The One Star award is designed for complete beginners and covers all the basic techniques to safely manoeuvre a kayak on flat water. This award can usually be completed in a day and would be run by a B.C.U. Level 1 Coach or above.
The award is divided up into three different sections, Theory, Practical" A" and Practical "B".

Lets look first of all at the Practical "A" section of the award.

Lifting, carrying and launching the kayak.

Lifting and carrying

Before going canoeing we obviously need to manually handle the boats from either a car roof rack, a trailer or a canoe shed of some description to the water. The key to handling any heavy or bulky objects is to practice good lifting and carrying techniques, i.e. always ensuring that any lifting/carrying is done with a straight back and using the leg muscles as required. With experience, most of the lifting/carrying will be done without assistance. However, until this is the case, we need to bear in mind that a general purpose canoe can initially feel very bulky (being almost the same length as a family car) and we therefore need to ensure that we do get assistance when lifting/carrying the boat to the water.

Getting in the boat.

Getting in

The key to getting in a boat safely is all about weight transfer. Keeping the paddles near at hand and with the boat in the water, crouch down facing the front of the boat level with the back of the seat. Place the hand nearest the boat on the cockpit rim just behind the seat on the far side of the boat, and pull the boat right into the bank and keep the boat pulled towards the bank. This tilts the boat slightly towards the bank. Place your other hand, on the bank by your side, and then very gently sit on the back of the cockpit with your bottom just off centre towards the bank. Now comes the weight transfer bit!! Lift your leg nearest the boat into the cockpit transferring the weight this leg was supporting to your supporting hand on the bank. Now lift your other leg into the cockpit transferring the weight in the same way. Most of your weight should now be supported by the back of the seat and your bank hand. Now all you need to do is to straighten your legs and slide gently forwards onto the seat. Once in the boat don't forget to grab the paddles!!

Spinning the boat around on the spot.

Because most modern general purpose kayaks are based on old slalom designs they tend to be quite manoeuvrable. This means that they can be a little tricky to keep in a straight line when canoeing for the first time. We would therefore suggest that rather than trying to learn forward paddling as the very first stroke, it is a good idea to just get the feel of how the boat turns by practising spinning the boat on the spot using wide forward and backward strokes which are known as "sweep strokes". This will help to both keep the boat straight when forward paddling and allow direction changes as required.

Spinning the boat

Making sure that you have plenty of space, place the blade in the water by your feet. It is a good idea to twist the body slightly from the waist to achieve this position. (This is known as "trunk rotation"). With the blade fully immersed, and with an almost straight arm, (almost straight because the muscles cannot be used effectively with a completely straight arm) sweep the blade towards the back of the boat in an arc. The boat will turn away from the paddle. Practice this on one side first of all, then practice the same stroke on the other side. Note that the first part of the stroke turns the front of the boat away from the paddle and the last part of the stroke pulls the back of the boat towards the paddle. Now try backward "sweep strokes" by placing the blade towards the back of the boat as far back as is comfortable, again twisting a little at the waist to aid the positioning of the blade. If you are using curved blades, remember that you don't need to swivel the paddle round to perform this stroke, but simply use the back face of the blade. Now just sweep the blade forward in a wide arc. Once you have practised this on both sides, you can combine a forward sweep on one side with a reverse sweep on the other which will cause the boat to spin on the spot.

Forward paddling.

This looks one of the easiest things to do when starting canoeing but in a general purpose kayak can be one of the most difficult for the reasons explained above. The usual difficulty experienced by beginners is keeping the boat running straight. There are however, a few tips which can be helpful to resolve this. Firstly, it is very important to look up the whole time and use your peripheral vision to pick up when the boat starts to move off course. If you look down at the front of the boat, you will not detect when the boat is moving off course until you feel it through "the seat of your pants", by which time it is often too late to correct. So look up, point the front of the boat at an object in the distance, a tree or whatever, and if the boat starts to move off course you can visually see what is happening instantly and correct it. The best way of correcting a boat that is moving off course without loosing momentum is by applying a forward sweep stroke. I.e. If the front of the boat is moving towards the left, apply a forward sweep stroke on the left concentrating on the first part of the stroke to correct the movement. If the back (stern) of the boat is skidding off course, apply a sweep stroke on the opposite side concentrating on the last part of the forward sweep to pull the stern back in line. A common reason why we tend to paddle off course is because we are naturally handed. In other words right handed paddlers will instinctively pull harder on the right than the left, causing the boat to turn to the left, and visa versa for left handed paddlers. Being aware of this allows us to compensate by not pulling so had on the relevant side. There are a number of other key points which we will cover in more detail on the Two Star Award but two other coaching points are well worth look at at this stage. Firstly it is important that the boat is in balance, this can be achieved by sitting upright or even leaning slightly forward when paddling. Secondly, when forward paddling aim to place the blade in by the feet and clip it out as it reaches the hips, keeping the paddle blade running as parallel to the centre line of the boat as possible and the same distance from the boat on both sides.

Stopping.

Stopping

To paddle safely it is very important to be able to stop quickly and efficiently. Stopping a boat that is travelling forwards requires backward paddling. No great surprises there, but unfortunately just jamming the blade in on the first reverse stroke, will make the boat unstable. The trick is to quickly perform several reverse stokes with the paddle blade only partially submerged. This reduces the risk of instability and allows for several strokes to be performed quickly on each side of the boat. Practise this until you can comfortably reverse the direction of the boat within four strokes. N.B. Like the reverse sweep, there is no need to swivel the paddle, it is both simpler and quicker just to use the back of the blade.

Reverse paddling:

Reverse or backward paddling is a useful technique for all sorts of reasons, but is particularly useful at this stage when forming a raft with other canoeists. Technically it is very similar to the reverse sweep that we have already covered but instead of the paddle being pushed away from the boat in an arc, push the paddle along the side to the canoe. The key things to remember are to try and twist the body slightly (trunk rotation) from the waist which will help "plant" the blade as far back and as is comfortable. Then run the blade along the side of the boat and clip the paddle out at around the knees. You should now have untwisted your trunk and be ready to apply trunk rotation on the opposite side before placing the paddle in on the other side and completing the cycle. So how do you see where your are going? Simply look over one or both shoulders to see what is behind.

Paddling a figure of eight course.

This is a requirement of the B.C.U. One Star Award and is excellent practise for learning to steer, and effectively use forward sweep strokes.

Returning to the bank and getting out.

Approaching the bank and getting out needs to be done with care and canoeists will usually combine a number of strokes to achieve this depending on the situation. Ruddering, stopping and or moving the boat sideways are the most common ways of approaching the bank. The technique for getting out is the reverse of getting in.

Practical "B"

Capsize, swim ashore and empty the boat.

This is the bit most people worry about but in fact there is no need to. To start with it is initially possible to practise getting out of the boat without getting wet!! It is a good idea at the beginning of the day to sit in the boat, put the front of the spray deck on (if you are using one), making sure that the release strap is not tucked inside the boat. Then practise reaching forward, releasing the deck, putting your thumbs inside the cockpit level with your hips and your fingers on the outside, push your body up and back at the same time, to exit the boat. It may help in some boats to straighten your legs whilst doing this. this can be repeated several times until you are completely happy with exiting the boat. Once you have practised this, should a capsize happen accidentally not only will you know what to do but the whole operation is made much easier by the fact that you are almost weightless once in the water. Once in the water, quickly gather up the paddle if necessary, swim to one end of the boat and tow it to shore. It is essential that you do not try to right the boat, since this will break the air lock and fill it with water. On reaching the bank get help emptying the boat which will be quite heavy because of the extra water in it. The B.C.U. One Star award also requires that we can show satisfactory beginnings in moving the boat sideways, ruddering and preventing a capsize.

Moving the boat sideways:

Moving the boat sideways

This is a useful technique to help get into tight spots or for just approaching the bank. What we are aiming to do here is literally to pull the boat sideways. This can be achieved by placing the blade in the water a few feet away from the boat, with the paddle shaft almost vertical and the paddle blade (in the water) facing you. All you then need to do is pull the blade towards you. The recovery of the blade is quite important here because you do not want the blade to dig in under the boat. This can be avoided either by slicing the blade out to the rear of the kayak when it reaches a point about 6" from the boat, or you can use a technique which is a little more complicated which involves "knifing" the blade back out by rotating your wrist forwards when the blade is 6" from the boat and slicing the blade away from the boat. The key to successfully pulling the boat sideways is to find the position on the side of the boat which, if you pull the blade towards, will result in the boat going perfectly sideways. This point is usually either in line with the hips or just in front of the hips.

Ruddering:

Ruddering is a stroke which helps us keep the boat running in a straight line and is used for example when paddling through narrow passages or small gaps. It works something like a rudder on a boat but instead of the rudder being at the back of the boat it is to one side. Ruddering is only effective if the boat is moving at a reasonable pace. Place the paddle along the side of the boat, and with the rear blade in the vertical position drop it into the water until it is submerged. Ideally the blade should be a foot or so away from the edge of the boat which will enable you to steer the boat through a narrow gap by either pushing or pulling on the blade as required.

Preventing a capsize:

Why is it that experienced canoeists rarely capsize ever when paddling on white water? The answer is simple. They use their paddles as a lever to stop themselves going over. If you start to fall, you instinctively extend your hand to save yourself. You can develop the same reflexes when canoeing, but instead of reaching out with a hand you reach out with a paddle blade and push down firmly on the surface of the water to stop yourself capsizing. For this to be effective you need to be a reasonably good fit in your boat so if you are supporting on the right hand side, you can transfer the uplift gained from the paddle, to your hips and right knee, which will enable you to rotate the boat on balance again. Having a foot rest in the boat also aids this greatly.

Theory.

Lastly the theory side of the B.C.U. One Star Award covers basic questions on: equipment, safety, first aid and the environment and access. Recommended reading for this is the Canoeing Handbook which is available through all good canoe retailers!!

Don't miss next months issue of "Paddles" where we will be discussing the B.C.U. Two Star Award. Happy paddling!!

All text and pictures Copyright Kent Canoes