Sculling Draw Stroke

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Key Points
Posture (Upright and Faces Work)
Vertical Paddle Angle
Both Hands Over Water
Blade Angle of Attack 45° or Less
Heel (Boat Dependent)
The Boat Moves Evenly Abeam

There are four main methods of moving a boat sideways: the draw, sculling draw, draw on the move and the hanging draw.

The last of the dynamic draw strokes is the sculling draw which is probably the one most often used but usually gives people the most trouble at first. Begin in the starting position again but don’t hold the paddle as far out; 12 to 18 inches being about right. With the upper hand acting as a fulcrum (again, hold it still), you move the paddle parallel to the kayak in sort of a shallow figure 8 just as if you’re spreading icing on a cake. As you’re doing this, keep pressure on the paddle toward the boat. Use strokes about 3 feet long. You want to avoid short choppy strokes since every time you reverse direction, you lose the pulling effect.

This one takes more practice but once you get the hang of the sculling it will be easier to learn the side sculling brace. This is where the Paddler has the kayak on it’s side and is laying half submerged in the water staying afloat by moving the paddle back and forth near the surface.

With any of these strokes, you should be lifting the ‘draw side’ knee to edge the kayak to allow the water to slip under the hull. If you edge the other way, you may pull water onto the hull which could throw you off balance.

See Sculling Support Stroke