How to Improve Your Edge Control for Whitewater Kayaking

In this video I show why edge control is so important in different situations/moves and give you a foundational practice to strengthen and improve how you edge and maneuver.
I created this video as one of the lessons for my Virtual Whitewater Master Class group, an annual 8 week group coaching program that I offer in June. You get a peak into this particular topic, one of many, that I cover throughout the program.
To find out more about my whitewater kayak instruction programs, visit mindbodypaddle.com

[@user-kv4jb3ik2r]

Thanks you comforted me into further doing it❤

[@AnnaLevesque]

Thanks!

[@darksidecarnival5385]

I recently discovered ur channel. I'm new to river kayaking and completed my Intro course 2 weeks ago. These videos are really helping me out. Thank you 😊

[@AnnaLevesque]

I'm so happy you find them useful!

[@guojunlong2247]

Thank you so much！really useful for me！

[@AnnaLevesque]

Glad to hear that!

[@kevinhornbuckle]

On dry land, you can do kayak yoga and isometric poses for strength and flexibility.

[@AnnaLevesque]

I am the author of Yoga for Paddling! So I totallya gree!

[@se7en20wasted]

I like to say loose hips save flips!

[@AnnaLevesque]

True haha!

[@crudeoil9347]

do you guys do that squirting to hide bathrooming ?!?

[@Aiphiae]

I swear I can lean to the right (or left) in my kayak and 50% of the time it will go right and the other 50% of the time it will go left. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong.

[@Misterdunham]

Edging (or leaning, to use your word) isn’t what turns the boat. Edging is what you need to do in response when your boat does start to turn. To get a better understanding of this you can find some calm water like a large eddy or lake and do this simple drill. Gently paddle in a straight line to build a bit of momentum and then use a sweep stroke to initiate a turn. Once you know for certain the boat has indeed begun to turn you should start edging your boat. Which edge? If your boat is turning to the right you should be edging on your right edge, and vice versa. For a deeper understanding of how this works you can build some extra momentum before initiating your sweep stroke and then begin edging on the incorrect side and see how it feels. Hint: It doesn’t feel nearly as good. 😉