This is a problem that I hear a lot of beginners asking about. I’m no exception. Usually I can get where I want to go without too much trouble. When I rent a kayak, I can paddle around just fine once I take a few minutes to get a feel for it. But with my clunker of a boat, which neither tracks well nor turns easily (which makes steering corrections difficult!), trying to paddle a straight course can be really frustrating. If I can’t figure this out soon, my bank account just might have to cough up the price of another boat earlier than planned.
I read somewhere that beginners may find it easier to stay on track if they stroke with their paddle at a shallower angle, rather than the typical straight down into the water. This makes sense; if you’re paddling continuously, this setup logically should provide a more stable heading, and is probably more forgiving of an imperfect stroke.
I thought this might work well for me, so I tried it. Well, this way I can stay in a straight line for maybe 2 yards instead of 3 or 4 feet, but after that it gets squirrelly. My trips across the reservoir usually take the form of a long series of meandering curves, graceful pirouettes, and lots of inventive cursing.
Is there a doctor in the house? Because I can’t seem to diagnose this problem on my own.
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I can offer three things that my be in play.
1. Body leaning: try to pay attention to whether you are shifting your weight from one butt cheek to the other during your strokes. Early in your paddling, it is easy to shift weight from one side of the boat to the other without even realizing it. This will cause your boat to veer off course.
2. Angle of your paddle blade (not paddle shaft): Watch your blade enter the water when you take a stroke. Is it catching the water “squarely” (perpendiculr to the water as it drops in to “catch” the stroke)? If your blade enters the water at an angle , this will actually steer you off of your straignt course.
3. Where your blade comes out of the water at the end of a stroke: Your paddle should come out of the water near your hip. Check to see if you are finishing your strokes at your hip or if you are taking your blade out of the water ahead of your hip (finishing the stroke too soon) or behind your hip (finishing the stroke too late). Either way can make your boat steer off of a straight course.
My 2nd point in previous comment didn’t quite come out like I meant it. Thought this link could explain better what I meant about the square blade and “catch” part of your stroke: http://www.performancevideo.com/paddle_blade_catch
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