“Ramming speed” is the default strategy of neophytes. This lowers your center of gravity and puts you in the most secure stance. In waves or whitewater, drop from a seated position directly to your knees if things feel dicey. After roughly every third forward stroke, pivot the paddle into rudder position and give a short flick (not as dramatic as the pry).

Finally, because the canoe seats are set asymmetrically, the stern paddler overpowers the bow and has to correct every few strokes with a brief rudder, or J-stroke. Lever the blade emphatically away from the canoe to change the boat’s direction. Trail the paddle behind your hip, turning the blade parallel to the hull (like a rudder).

Again, the draw is a key correction stroke, but since the stern paddler can’t efficiently draw on the “off” side, you’ll want to use the pry instead. You also complement the corrections made in the bow. Identify and steer the general course, sighting on a distant point or open downriver channel. If you’re sitting in the stern, or the rear, paddle in sync with your bow partner with your paddle on the opposite side of the canoe. To practice the cross-bow draw, simply swing your torso to plant the paddle on the “off” side, without switching hand positions (one on the top of the handle, one halfway up the shaft), and draw the canoe in the opposite direction. The trick is to reach well out of the boat, plant the blade firmly, and then pull the paddle shaft toward the canoe. Instead of using the paddle to push the canoe forward, you’re using it to pull-or draw-the bow toward the paddle, thereby changing the boat’s direction. The draw is a bow paddler’s key correction stroke.

You set the stroke cadence with a steady rhythm and are the lookout, identifying obstacles and making course corrections. If you’re sitting in the front you provide forward momentum and correction strokes when the boat wanders. The trick is good communication and knowing your job. Though solo canoeing is always an option, nothing moves a canoe better than a well-matched tandem team. Photo: Henry GeorgiĬanoeing is how this whole paddling business got started, and as they navigated their bark craft through the boreal forest, early paddlers faced the same challenge learning how to canoe that you did at summer camp: sharing the canoe with another paddler. Young couple paddling canoe on small creek near Irondequoit Bay, Rochester, New York.

Little man in the canoe