Proper Positioning in Your Kayak

To get the best performance from the boat, we need certain things to be in place, and these foundations are very important. So that the first one is our posture, we need to be upright, not leaning forwards and not slouching; so upright with our pelvis tilted forwards.The next thing is where are we contacting the boat, where are we touching the boat. My bum is touching the seat; my hips are touching the side of the seat; and my back is on the back rest. Moving down my body, my thighs are on the inside of the cockpit here; my knees are touching just behind these marks here; my toes are touching about where these marks are here; and my heels are against the bottom of the boat, against the hull and my ankles are against the hull as well. The balls of my feet are against the footrest.

So with all these contact points, that allows me to transfer the power effectively from the paddle, through my body and out through the boat, so that I get that desired result. With all of this in place, it allows me to feel what's happening and that feel is very important when we start to move our skill on, and develop to become much better paddlers.
We can go inside the boat and see those contact points, because they are what transfer power from the paddle stroke into kayak movement. The feet (in Wellington boots), are in contact in 3 places: the toes and heels are on the hull of kayak, the balls of the feet are on the footrests. Moving up, we can see Gordon's active leg position inside the boat. His knee is in contact with the hull, just behind the square we've placed on the outside. Touching the boat in these places, you feel what's happening to the kayak.