Re: First Paddle!!!!

Posted by LeeG on Sep 8, 2004

it's funny how essential thigh braces are to turning for an unruddered kayak besides the ability to lean. My experience has been that the average enthusiastic paddler doesn't discover the aft quarter portion of a sweep/turning stroke for a year or two, in my case it wasn't until I got an unruddered kayak after four years of ruddered paddling. It's like getting flexible enough to touch your toes in that simply paddling harder on one side won't provide adequate turning efficiency once the wind gets above 15mph or maneuvering in waves is essential to holding a course. If a person isn't connected via thigh braces then there's a significantly less willingness to turn their torso around for an effective/strong sweep without feeling too tippy as there's no connection between hips and hull. Likewise some braces.

In Response to: Re: First Paddle!!!! by Robert N Pruden on Sep 8, 2004

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