Canoe Skills & Strokes Three strokes to point you in the right direction

By Paul Mason

Figure 1

This stroke has endless variations as you adapt it to each situation. Ideally, you reach far out to plant the stroke and keep the paddle vertical in the water (figure 1). To do this, your body weight must move out onto your paddle. Use your whole torso to pull your end of the canoe toward your paddle. Finish the stroke with your body centred back in the canoe. If you’re pulling with your entire body, you’ll naturally find yourself back in the canoe at the end of each stroke. Staying in sync with your partner will keep the canoe from rocking violently. Watch where your end of the canoe is going. Hitting a rock while watching your paddle can produce comical results—for the onlookers, at least.

The Draw Stroke

Figure 2

The Pry Stroke

The main thing to remember with the pry is that the most efficient part of the stroke comes when the paddle is vertical; hence the reason for starting the stroke with the paddle blade actually under the canoe! Rest your shaft hand on the gunwale to keep the paddle in position. Keep the stroke short. A general guideline is to keep the paddle within 20 to 25 degrees of vertical. Slicing the paddle under the canoe will cause your upper body to move out over the paddle

(figure 2). This is desirable, as you can then use your torso muscles to pull your grip hand back into the boat, creating a strong lever action off the gunwale. This technique is much stronger than if you had used only your arm muscles.

If you’re a stern paddler, you should slant the paddle backward at 45 degrees, with the blade close to the stern. This places your stroke farther from the pivot point of the canoe. Since the pry is a very short stroke, make sure the blade actually slaps the hull as you initiate the stroke. Figure 3

The Cross-draw Stroke

This stroke is effective only in the bow. Remember to rotate your torso to face your offside, the side on which you will be doing your cross-draw. Bring your paddle over across the canoe as you rotate your torso, and set the blade in the water a comfortable distance from the canoe (figure 3). This gives you some leeway in case you’ve misjudged the current. Your lower arm will be straight. Your grip hand will be low, close to your body. This arm position puts the blade well in front of you without you having to lean forward. If your canoe has forward momentum or you are entering current, just hold this position and let the force of the water on the blade exert a turning action. If there is no current, push out with your grip hand and pull in with your lower arm. For maximum power, untwist your torso a little on each stroke. A variation on the cross-draw is to keep the shaft a little more vertical. Although this is less efficient as a pivot stroke, it does allow you to easily shift to an offside forward stroke.

A good complementary stern stroke for the cross-draw is the back sweep. It begins as a pry to initiate the turn. Then the paddle blade flattens out, creating a bracing effect. This is desirable given the precarious position of the bow person during the cross-draw. For an extensive review of basic canoeing strokes, refer to the book or video version of Path of the Paddle, written by my late father, Bill Mason. For more information see Paul Mason productions at www.wilds.mb.ca/redcanoe.