Hello, I am Ramon Etxaniz and I am going to give you some tips to paddle in a kayak. Whether you start kayaking or want to improve, they will help BODY BACK In the kayak you have to go upright, you do not have to take the position that sometimes we think It can be a bit more comfortable or logical at the beginning than it is to lean the body back and lean on the seat or backrest. This seems like it can be comfortable but in the long run you will notice that it is more uncomfortable. On the other hand, the upright posture helps us to give a more efficient stroke because we can put the shovel further forward. STIFF I have told you that the posture has to be upright but the body should not always stay in the same place. On the one hand to help us in the word we will turn the trunk and on the other hand, both as if we catch waves in the sea as if we go in white water, the body does not always stay the same place because sometimes we will need the bow or the The nose goes higher so that we do not sink into the water, we are stuck, then we will throw our body back ... sometimes we will have to push our body forward for another need. So, important, have a slightly dynamic posture. LOOKING TO THE KAYAK It is important that we keep our eyes ahead because in this way we will know if we are following a correct course or if we are going astray. On the other hand, looking straight ahead helps us to keep the airways more open because if we look down this way they would close us INCORRECT GRIP OF THE PADDLE as a general advice we place the center of the shaft on the head and the arms would have to make 90 degrees, here 90 degrees Okay, that would be the posture, the correct grip. Some paddles have a black plastic here that helps us , more or less we would catch in the center of that black plastic and more or less that would be the grip point. This is important because sometimes inadvertently we get out of hand and we paddle a bit asymmetrical. This will make us have to use more force with one arm and many times it will make us twist the course. So it is important to hold both hands symmetrically and at the same height. A trick to maintain this position, this posture, is to place a mark here with electrical tape so that we already know where our hand has to go. NOT USE YOUR BODY if we do not help ourselves with the trunk, we only paddle with our arms, we will be doing all the strength with our arms. This loads us a lot and will make us get tired sooner and our arms get loaded a lot and we may even have an injury. So the way to do it would be when we introduce the paddle we advance in the right shoulder without going to put the right blade we advance the shoulder in this way the blade enters well forward. As we blade we turn the trunk, so that when we go to put the left blade the left shoulder is ahead and thus the left blade enters as far forward as possible ... turn turn turn turn VERY STRONG GRIP Do not hold the paddle too hard. In whitewater, yes, sometimes you have to hold on very hard because if you can't escape and you will have problems, but in calm waters and in the sea it is advisable to carry your hands a little even open, okay. When we stroke the hand that goes up, which is pushing, we can even open it a little to relax the forearm, the whole arm relaxes with each stroke STRETCHED LEGS as we have to place our legs we put our feet on the footrest and the legs have to make a small angle with the knees a little raised. In the closed kayak the elevation will be given by the kayak, the Ttop, where we support our knees. In the open kayak, the position is neither the legs too stretched nor too close to the body because that will make us uncomfortable. We have to be, when we sit down, well in a position that we see that we are comfortable NOT PRESSING WELL The transmission of the propulsion force is done through the leg on the footrest. So, we will do the pressure with this part, this is my hand but imagine that it is the foot, we will do it with this part and the feet will be a little open like that, okay? We press this part and the heels a little inwards. So when we hit the right stroke, press the right leg with the right foot on the footrest, okay, and we change. When we give the word left then we put pressure on the left side. This would be what is called pedaling because in open kayaks, in calm waters or in sit o tops, sometimes you can even see a person doing it correctly as one knee goes up the other down. That's because you're pressing when you stroke your right leg, then your left leg, and your knees go up and down. PADDLING VERY FAST Do not paddle very fast especially at the beginning when you are starting, why? Because when we paddle very fast we donÂŽt have extra strength, extra propulsion, to correct the course. So if we are going very fast and we are turning, imagine that to the right, I want to make a corrective stop but I no longer have the strength, I have no propulsion to correct that course and the kayak is going to go away. On the other hand, if we have a relaxed rhythm, we are paddling slowly, at the moment that the kayak is leaving us, remember that we must have our eyes ahead to know that we are leaving and have a reference, at that moment we can give a stop a little stronger, we have the energy to give that word a little stronger, to correct the course. NOT ENJOY Tip number 10 and the most important of all: enjoy when you go to paddling. I hope you find these tips useful and please, I ask you to subscribe to our channel so that we can continue making these types of videos.
