Stationary draw

A draw stroke where the paddle does not move relative to the boat. Also called a running draw.

The most common use is to slip a moving boat sideways. Get the boat up to speed. Then rotate your body so your chest is pointing in the direction of the desired slip. Then reach ALL THE WAY over with both hands to place your paddle in the water with a vertical shaft. The vertical shaft is essential. You want all the energy from the draw to go into desired motion of the kayak. Anything other than a vertical paddle applies lift to the boat and wastes energy.

An alternative to rotating your body is to keep your body facing forward and to reach across your body to place the paddle. It is important to protect your shoulder in this maneuver. Your upper arm should cross your body at shoulder height and your elbow will be roughly on the centerline of your body, just below your neck. Your lower hand should be close in to keep the shaft vertical. This works well with narrow kayaks as it allows you to concentrate on what's coming ahead. You can augment this with a bit of rotation if the kayak is wide.

Instituting a side slip with a stationary draw takes practice and is slightly different from one kayak to another. You need to place the paddle just off from the boat's center of lateral resistance so the motion slips the boat sideways rather than turning the boat. The goal in a side slip is to bleed off as little speed as possible. This means you want the face of the paddle to be mostly parallel to the boat with only a slight open orientation to create a sideways force.

If your boat is turning to the paddle side, try placing the blade farther back. It is much easier to start too far back and slice forward than it is to start too far forward and try to bring the paddle back and the stationary draw back into balance.

Mastering a side slip is a great way to build finer boat control skills. If you play in rough rock gardens, the side slip can also be an important stroke allowing you to avoid rocks without losing too much speed.