How to Grip a Kayak Paddle

Video Transcript

Next thing we're going to talk about is how to grip the paddle. The first thing you want to do, like we had talked about earlier, make sure you can read the labels when you grab the paddle. We already talked about the distance on how far your hands should be apart. So, for me, I've got it on top of my head, my arms are at a 90-degree and I end up with about 6 inches from the end of my hands to the blades. So, when I grab the paddle, they'll be an index on my right hand on a lot blade, or the shaft will be oval shaped. So what you want to do, is when I grab that index, I want this right blade to be straight up and down and my knuckles to be straight up and down with that blade. That is the grip that I always need to keep. That right hand, I never lose that grip no matter whether I'm paddling forwards or backwards. That grip stays the same but what I want to do, is grab the left hand like this. I want to keep that left hand nice and loose, see how I can rotate the blade in the left hand? So what I do there, is when I take a stroke on my right side, I come across, and then I'll bend my right wrist and let the blade actually rotate, or the shaft rotate in my left hand and then I'll take a stroke on my left side. So one way you can do that, is you can actually make the "OK" sign with this hand, see how I've got the "OK" sign? And you can just kind of wrap those fingers and you can let it rotate in that hand. Most new kayaker?s want to get a "death grip" on both hands on the paddle. Always have that left hand nice and loose. So, it's like this, rotates with my right wrists, keep my left wrist straight and then take a stroke on this side.