As with Greg’s stroke, Brent’s version is also based on a racing background and has many similarities, but there’s one main difference: pushing the top hand with a bent elbow—R.S.

The forward stroke I have developed is a product of over 20 years of paddlesport racing and the six national titles won during my career as an international competitor and a National Junior Kayak coach. Over the past 10 years, I’ve focused on teaching the forward stroke to recreational paddlers.

Get Centered
Hidden beneath your spray skirt is your power core, where your boat’s forward movement should originate. The majority of your power should be generated from your center—a spot located an inch or two below your belly button. The body’s “center” is an important element in all types of physical activities, such as martial arts, yoga, gymnastics, golf, skiing, soccer and so on. Kayaking is no exception.
All the body movements happening above deck are secondary to what’s happening below. The above-deck components are designed to enhance results that begin at your center. The most powerful muscles you can use to propel your kayak across the surface of the water are those of your abdomen and back.
There are five components to the forward stroke: torso rotation, the elbow lift, the catch, pushing with a bent elbow and the exit. In combination, these components are designed to get you from point A to point B in the most efficient manner possible. This stroke is not just a “racing stroke.” It’s simply the best way to call on all the major muscles to move the boat forward.

Torso Rotation
Torso rotation is the most critical aspect in the development of paddling power. All my students seem to agree that torso rotation makes good sense; however, most of them have to learn to exaggerate the movement to make it fully effective. It’s not that they’re lazy or unable to perform this component—it’s just that most folks fail to focus on its origins below deck. The top half of your torso is above the spray skirt, which is where most of us focus our rotational efforts. However, the most efficient power source is the base of the spine.
Many of us paddle with our shoulders rounded and lower back hunched over. We need to do what our mothers told us and sit up straight! It is critical in avoiding lower back and hamstring problems. Using the base of your spine as an anchor point, twist at the torso as if you were winding a dense piece of rubber. Plant the paddle blade, then—boom! Unwind to release the power stored in the torso.
Use your hips for utmost power: Rotate your right hip forward as you prepare for the stroke on the right side. Plant the right blade next to the gunwale of the boat, as far forward as possible without leaning your torso forward. Once the blade is buried, apply pressure with your right foot against the foot peg or rudder pedal. As your leg straightens, your knee lowers and your right hip is driven backward deep into the seat; in turn, your left hip is driven forward. Voilà—torso rotation is triggered!
This below-deck process is repeated on both sides, for every stroke. Above-deck movements should refine the power developed by the abdomen and back and redirect that rotational power of the hips to move your boat forward.

The Elbow Lift
The elbow lift (and pushing with a bent elbow) is probably the single most distinctive aspect of my forward-stroke technique. From my experience, this movement can be instrumental in avoiding wrist and shoulder injuries. The goal is to align the joints of the shoulder, elbow and wrist as the arm applies pressure to the blade. The power is applied directly on a flat plane, just as if you threw a crossing blow. (Not that any of us good-natured kayakers would ever do such a thing!) If you apply power along an axis that is not flat, your joints are forced to absorb some of the force meant for the blade face. This results in power loss as well as potential joint injury. Bring the elbow and wrist even with the shoulder. Be sure not to raise the elbow any higher than the shoulder in order to stay within the working range of the rotator cuff. Any time your upper arm is above your shoulder, your rotator cuff can be in peril.
The biggest challenge in learning this stroke is to shift your arms from a position where the elbow is much lower than the wrist and shoulder. Having the elbow low may be an intuitive position, but it needs to be unlearned to most efficiently call on the power of the torso. Wind up first, then align the joints during the elbow lift in preparation for the catch. Then you apply power through pushing with a bent elbow and finish the stroke with the exit.

The Catch

When paddlers want top speed, we have a tendency to rush our stroke and release the power of our torso too early. If our torso begins to unwind before we have a full blade of water, the time our blade spends in the water decreases.
The purpose of the catch is twofold: to get the greatest stroke length possible and to utilize proper timing to maximize stroke power. Most students achieve improvement very quickly by simply modifying their catch. Once a student understands the proper paddle placement combined with power timing, the boat begins to jump across the water. Proper paddle placement is as far forward as possible without leaning the torso forward. The blade needs to be right next to the gunwale of the boat at the beginning of the catch. Proper timing is achieved by a slight hesitation to allow the blade to become totally buried before unwinding with the torso. Think about initiating the stroke with the upper hand, “spearing” to set the blade. Don’t allow the lower hand to take charge until you have the blade buried.

Pushing with a Bent Elbow
Pushing with a bent elbow translates the rotational power of the torso to the straight-ahead power you need to move forward. Apply power to the planted blade in a crossing movement rather than the typical “punching” movement most paddlers use intuitively. The mechanics of this move, once the joints of the arm are aligned and the blade is planted, are simple, but feel strange for many. But it’s not difficult, just different.
You may have to suppress the urge to end the pushing phase without punching. Don’t extend your top arm fully as you approach the end of the crossing movement. Maintain the approximately 90° bend between the forearm and the upper arm in your top (pushing) arm throughout the entire movement. Only then do you get to straighten this top arm as you proceed to the spearing movement (the catch) on the opposite side. We are better able to gain stroke length by going for the spearing movement with the top hand than by punching to full extension with the top hand and having to drop the lower hand for the catch.
Once you start to use full torso rotation for power, your blade will move more sideways in the water than when you were an “arm paddler.” This is to be expected as long as you keep your top arm up between shoulder and eye level. If you let your hand drop to the deck as you push, you’ll perform more of a sweep stroke than a forward stroke.
Pushing with a bent elbow can be pretty strange initially, but it’s also the component that ties all the preceding components together and is the most efficient way to transfer the power derived from the torso rotation to the blade.

The Exit
Lifting the blade from the water at the end of the stroke should be effortless, but if you let the blade travel too far toward the stern, you’ll waste energy by lifting water as you pull it out. The blade should come out of the water about the time your hand meets your hip. Get the blade out of the water as soon as its job is over, so the opposite blade can get in the water to begin its work.

Paddle Length
A person under the height of 5'6" or so, or for that matter, a taller person with a proportionately short torso, may do well with lengths between 210 and 215 cm. Many small women get “stuck” in the big-guy world of long paddles and have difficulty doing a high-angle stroke, simply due to the equipment. There’s no reason to use a paddle longer than 225 cm unless you are paddling a wide boat such as a tandem or sit-on-top, in which case, 240 cm should be the maximum length.

The Technique
With a few exceptions, this stroke can be used in all forms of kayaking. I use it whether I’m paddling a raging river or a calm lagoon.

Brent Reitz has 20 years of paddling experience, 10 of which were spent paddling for national teams. He teaches for a variety of paddling shops throughout the U.S. and created The Brent Reitz Forward Stroke Clinic video/DVD, available from his web site: www.wildsprint.com or at the Sea Kayaker Mag Online store