carving turns in a pirogue | SouthernPaddler.com

carving turns in a pirogue

jdupre'

Well-Known Member
Sep 9, 2007
2,327
40
South Louisiana
Went for a 7 mile paddle this morning in and around Lake Verret. I experimented with leaning to the opposite side to carve a turn and it works pretty well. You need a little speed to make it work--cruising speed works good. I found that for average course corrections, a little lean was all that was necessary-- no need to change the paddle stroke(double paddle). It's a little counter-intuitive to anyone that has ridden a motorcyle.

I really put this technique to the test. I got up to cruising speed, stopped paddling and just leaned over as hard as I dared. I'll be darned if that boat didn't turn in about a 25/30 ft radius , almost making it 180 degrees before it scrubbed off too much speed.. Very interesting.
 

Ozark

Well-Known Member
Oct 23, 2007
627
0
Ozark Mo.
Joey I hope one day you can come up to my Ozarks rivers so I can show you what I call the paddle drag to slow down the forward motion. It can be modified to make turns also. It don't work though if you are paddling up current.
Paul