Yes, most kayaks are rigid structures....but when you push on one pedal
only, you tend to cause the kayak to lean to one side when the paddle stroke
is on the opposite side of the foot pressure. Think about it for a moment
and you'll see what I mean. It's a potential explanation for the steering
problems, IMHO. I'm new to the sport and don't speak from a lot of
experience...but logic tells me that it could be an explanation for steering
problems. The other is that the strength of the strokes is uneven. If you
paddle hard on one side but not the other, you slowly turn. I use this as a
supplement to leaning or using a J stroke to stay on course.


"Brian Nystrom" wrote in message
...
wrote:
On Tue, 17 Aug 2004 00:16:30 GMT, "Kenneth McClelland"
wrote:


I was in a different boat than what I was used to and I was having a
like
problem. The reason was that I was tense and was inadvertently pushing
one
knee up hard and it was throwing my whole balance out. After I stopped
fighting with the boat and relaxed all was well. The people I was
paddling
with said that the boat looked mostly level but I think it was edging up
with each stroke.



Also can happen if she's weighting the wrong foot on the stroke.

How do you figure that? Being essentially a rigid structure, the boat
won't respond any differently to pressure on one foot pedal than the
other. Except when used to control a rudder, all the foot pedals do is
provide support so the paddler can resist the force of the paddle
stroke. The commonly repeated notion that one can steer a kayak by
pushing on the foot pedals is nonsense. Steering is controlled by the
paddle strokes and/or edging/leaning.