Canoeing - Use

Use

Canoes have a reputation for instability, but this is not true if they are handled properly. For example, the occupants need to keep their center of gravity as low as possible. Canoes can navigate swift-moving water with careful scouting of rapids and good communication between the paddlers.

When two people occupy a canoe, they paddle on opposite sides. For example, the person in the bow (the bowman) might hold the paddle on the port side, with the left hand just above the blade and the right hand at the top end of the paddle. The left hand acts mostly as a pivot and the right arm supplies most of the power. The sternman would paddle on the starboard side, with the right hand just above the blade and the left hand at the top. For travel straight ahead, they usually draw the paddle from bow to stern, in a straight line parallel to the gunwale.

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