Forward stroke
From KayakWiki
The primary stroke for propelling a kayak forward with a paddle.
First: Sit up straight. Slouching forward or backwards limits your upper body's ability to move. You can get more power by using your upper body than by using just your arms.
Second: Don't apply power to the paddle until the paddle blade is completely submerged. Don't use just the tip of the blade. If the paddle is making gurgling noises, you are wasting your effort. If you are pulling a lot of air down into the water you are wasting your effort.
Third: Push with your upper arm at the same time you pull with your lower arm. Rotate your torso to follow the paddle. You should feel like you are pulling the boat past the paddle. You may push your upper hand across the centerline of the boat.
Fourth: Don't pull your lower hand past your hip. If you rotate your torso, this point may be a little farther back than if you don't rotate.
Fifth: Don't lift water at the end of the stroke. If you are splashing a lot, you are wasting your effort.
See Also:
Below is a comparison of a wing paddle forward stroke and the Greenland forward stroke. These are not completely comparable strokes as the Greenland paddle is doing a long distance race, and the wing paddle is sprinting.
http://www.kayakforum.com/Albums/Front_Comparison.jpg
The most noticable difference is the wing paddler slices his paddle out to the side in the water (Flared Stroke) where the Greenland paddler appears to pull more straight back. The Greenland paddle pushes the upper hand down across the boat, where the wing paddler pushes the upper hand horizontally across at eye level. In both cases the stroke starts out with the upper hand at nearly eye level.
http://www.kayakforum.com/Albums/Stroke_Comparison.jpg
Here you can see that both paddlers use significant torso rotation. It is quite noticable that the wing paddle crosses over the boat with his hands held high, and the Greenland paddler crosses over with hands held low.
Some of these differences may be attributed to the different kind of paddling they are doing. As you increase your stroke rate it helps to have a more vertical stroke. I have found that having the upper hand cross the centre line of the kayak at the beginning of the stroke keeps the blade in a more vertical position and forces good torso rotation. This is virtually the only cause of paddle movement, arm movement being restricted to giuding the paddle out from the boat (or rather allowing the paddle to find its own optimum direction through the water). For longer distance paddling, it is helpful to have a more horizontal stroke. Varying between sometimes more vertical and sometimes more horizontal allows better muscle recovery for longer distance trips. Also note the differences in paddle size and shape. This influences the path the paddle takes through the water and which position is most efficient.
