Five Core Paddle Strokes

Basic River Skills with Trevor and Nathan

6 min ·  Boating Skills Course

What you’ll need

  • A raft

  • A paddle

  • A local river to practice on

We'll be working on

  • The 5 core paddle strokes

  • Linking basic strokes

  • How to get maximum power out of every stroke

  • Proper paddle form

 

In this lesson Trevor and Nathan will be discussing the 5 core paddle strokes and how to properly execute them. In future lessons we will be building upon these core paddle strokes to execute advanced paddle strokes on more challenging rivers. The strokes we will be covering are:

  • Forward

  • Back Paddle

  • Draw Stroke

  • Pry Stroke

  • Sculling

These strokes lay the foundation for very other variation of paddle stroke you will execute on the water. We will also look at how to achieve proper form with the 5 core paddle strokes to avoid injury. Finally, we will be exploring some paddle terminology to help you achieve a deeper understanding on how paddling works.

Feeling a little lost? Ask the team a question…