After you’ve set up the stroke, the next stage is the catch. Put the paddle in the water – simple eh? Yes, but a couple of pointers for a successful paddling stroke:

From the set up position with both arms high, hands at about eye level, body fully rotated (your knee on the side away from the stroke should be almost straight)

Use the top hand to push the paddle into the water. It’s important not to bring the paddle down hard onto the water or slap the surface but to ‘spear the fish’. The blade should enter the water as far forward as possible (without bobbing or excessive forward leaning), as cleanly as possible (no splash) and as close to the boat as you can. The blade should be at 90 degrees to the direction of travel.

The key is not to apply any force to the paddle until the blade is fully submersed, up to the neck of the blade (but no deeper). A common error is to only partially submerse the blade before putting on the power. As a result, a lot of power is lost in the first third of the stroke.