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"Canoeing strokes are not intuitive,” adds Mike. "Use a vertical paddle, and paddle in sync with your partner. Power stops at the knee. You rotate your torso forward—when you ‘un-rotate’, that’s where the power comes from.”

"Make sure that the buoyancy of the boat is adjusted. The rocker or main hull—make sure it’s balanced; not too far in or out of the water,” says Ryan.

Mike encourages paddlers who want to improve their technique to "Paddle with other top-end paddlers from different locations. You won’t have much growth if you’re always the best paddler in the group. Don’t ever think you know it all, don’t ever close your mind and say, ‘I already know that.’”

Ryan agrees: "You can pick up technique, even subconsciously, if you’re in a boat with more experienced paddlers during a 14 KM training paddle.”


The Difference Between Canoeing and a Kayaking

One of the primary traditional differences between a canoe and a kayak is that a kayak is essentially a 'closed' canoe, meaning that the top part is covered and a skirt encloses the kayaker's torso. However, today, there are also closed canoes, which are predominantly found in competitive canoeing or difficult whitewater canoeing. Another difference is that kayakers are always in a seated position, whereas a canoeist might be paddling seated or in a kneeling position. And the most obvious and easily noticeable difference? A canoeist uses a single-bladed paddle, while the kayaker uses a double-bladed paddle.


Which do you prefer: Canoe or Kayak?

"Canoeing in whitewater takes more skill because of the boat design and because of the single blade,” says Bruce. "You can take both sports as far you want to take them, though, and both canoeing and kayaking are challenging at the top levels. I mostly do touring in a canoe, and I did most whitewater in canoe until about ten years ago. Ten years ago I split between canoeing and kayaking, and now I do about half and half.”

"That’s not a fair question!” protests Mike. "I like them both, but they’re different disciplines. Comparing a canoe to a kayak is like comparing a guitar to a French horn. It takes a great deal of training and practice to be very good with either; however, you can have a lot of fun with very little training.”

"I do primarily kayaking,” says Ryan, "and so do the kids on my team. Canoeing is less popular.”

Mike says, "Interest in paddling is weighted toward kayaking in the beginning, but more people actually participate in canoeing—50 million people canoed last year. That’s a lot of people.” He notes, "There are more triathlons now that have a paddling component, replacing the swim.”

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