Blade Control
Here comes the turning part. Get your kayak moving forward and position your paddle as outlined previously: torso rotated, high shaft angle, blade immersed well aft. Use your body and rearward arm to hold the paddle shaft in this position, and cock the wrist of your rearward hand backward, making your thumb point away from the kayak. This will cause the leading edge of the paddle blade to angle away from the kayak.
As the blade angle “opens up,” the paddle will draw the stern of your boat toward the paddle side, which will turn the bow away from the paddle. Start with as small an angle as possible to minimize drag. If the stroke doesn’t seem to be working, open up the blade more. Pay attention to the angle of your paddle shaft. Moving the paddle shaft to a more vertical orientation will make the drawing action more effective.
Once you have the hang of an open blade angle, try pitching the blade the opposite way—angling the leading edge of the paddle blade toward the kayak. Get the kayak moving again, and flex the wrist of your rearward hand forward so that the thumb begins to point toward your kayak. Remember to hold the paddle shaft in a static position as you do this. “Closing down” the blade angle in this way will push the stern away from the paddle side and will turn the bow toward the paddle. The paddle itself doesn’t move—it’s the force of water acting on the blade that causes the kayak to turn.
The next exercise is to alternate the blade angle to turn the kayak from right to left without switching sides with the paddle. The ability to control direction with a stern rudder without changing sides will greatly improve your control while surfing. Concentrate on what your feet are doing. Alternate pressure with your feet as you change the blade angle. Push your kayak in the direction that you want it to turn. Remember: open blade angle, kayak turns away; closed blade angle, kayak turns toward.
I’ve described this stroke without referring to a left or right control hand. With this technique, your left hand controls the blade angle on the left side of the boat, and your right hand controls the angle on the right side. You’ll have better control of the ruddering angle with the hand closest to the active blade, and it’s easy enough to switch back to your usual control hand when you resume forward paddling.
Linking Strokes
No kayak stroke exists in isolation from another. While it’s helpful to practice a stroke on its own until you’ve mastered the technique, you’ll find most strokes more effective when combined with others. The high stern rudder is no -exception.
You may find yourself finishing a forward stroke in a sweep to pull your kayak back onto course. At the end of that sweep, if you need a bit more turn, you can shoot in a quick, open-blade stern rudder without breaking the rhythm of your forward paddling. This can be an effective way to control weathercocking in severe conditions.
Or, you may find that your kayak is beginning to broach on a wave and choose to shift your high stern rudder into a more powerful low stern rudder. In an abrupt broach toward the paddle side, the low angle stern rudder can be transitioned into a brace. If you play with combinations of strokes during your everyday paddling, you’ll be more likely to use them in challenging conditions.
Surfing
The high stern rudder really comes into its own while working wind waves in a following sea or surfing a reef or shore break. The thing to remember about this stroke is that it allows for a high level of control but doesn’t provide a ton of power. This means that if you’re catching green waves in a following sea, you’ll want to keep the boat perpendicular to the face of the wave if possible.
If you’re in a quartering sea, it helps to set up the stroke on the downwind side of your boat, which will allow you to switch to a low stern rudder if you need to muscle the boat out of a broach or lock in for a fast ride. Use subtle shifts in blade angle and foot pressure to keep your boat pointed where you want it to go. Combine forward strokes and sweeps with the high and low stern rudder and get into a rhythm of catching waves. Each ride will be different. The key is to adapt your technique to meet the current conditions.
Edging
A final note on edge control: There is no single, correct direction to edge your kayak while performing a stern rudder. On small waves and with slower rides, it can be helpful to edge your kayak away from the direction that you’re turning. This is because the shape of most sea kayaks is such that they will turn away from the direction that you edge them. However, in bigger conditions, you may choose to edge your boat toward the paddle side, regardless of which way you are turning. Edging in this way still promotes a quicker turn but allows for a fast brace if you find yourself off balance. Finally, in steep or breaking seas, it’s most stable to edge toward a wave that’s breaking. Edging away from a breaking wave can make for a quick capsize.
Try It, You’ll Like It
The high stern rudder is a useful stroke for fine control of your kayak in a following sea or while surfing. It’s more efficient than the standard stern rudder and allows the paddler to turn in either direction without changing sides. If you want to improve the effectiveness of your stern-rudder technique, the high stern rudder is worth a try.
Brian Day is a Level 3 BCU sea-kayak coach and has been teaching kayaking skills since 1996. He lives and works in Madison, Wisconsin.