Flatwater Training Tips [video]

Zofia Tula for Jackson Kayak’s Tip of the Week suggests using flatwater to improve your kayaking skills.

Flatwater paddling offers the best opportunity to focus and concentrate on technique for symmetry and maintaining proper angles. Weather in an eddy or even locally in a pool.

Zofia suggeste creating a training plan before you start paddling. the key is to focus on 1 or 2 new moves during weach training sesion. It is suggested that uou steart with easy moves that you already know as part of your warm-up routine. Only 50 – 60 percent of your training time should be devited to learning new moves.

For example, a one-hour flatwater training session might look like this:

10 minutes of warm-up on shore.
10 minutes of warm-up in the water. (Paddle forward and backward. Try easy moves with attention to angle control.)
30 minutes spent focusing on the two new moves you want to learn.
For the final 10 minutes, mix it up.
And don’t forget to stretch afterward.
Read more at CanoeKayak.com

Zofia explains the key factors involved in successfully learning vertical moves.

The key to learning vertical moves is using a marker, such as a landmark on shore or the lines along the bottom of a pool. Why is this so important? A marker teaches you to start and finish your moves in the same direction. For example, on flatwater you can learn to cartwheel fairly easily, but good cartwheeling technic comes only when you can stay on the same line through the end of the move. This is important in the hole where if you get offline, you’ll flush from the feature. Your stern should be in line with the marker as you finish your cartwheel. Once you’ve learned to control your rotation, try split wheeling. Remember you need to pivot exactly 180 degrees on your bow before you reverse and throw your stern down. A marker will help you see where 180 degrees is.
Read more at CanoeKayak.com

Watch how she does it in the following video