NEW Strokes Course: A Toolbox For Paddlers

The OWW Strokes Course is a structured, skills-focused online course designed to help you build strong, reliable whitewater technique from the ground up. As well as working on these strokes in isolation, this course shows how they fit together and how they’re applied on the river.

Across this course, you’ll work through the foundations that underpin forward paddling, support strokes, sweep strokes, rudders, and draw strokes. Each lesson breaks skills down into clear, manageable components, with a strong emphasis on efficiency, body position, blade awareness, and control.

Most of the training is deliberately based on flat water. This allows you to focus on quality movement, repeat skills, and develop consistency, so when you take these strokes into whitewater, they hold up under pressure.

By the end of the course, you should have a clearer picture of why strokes work, when to use them, and how to adapt and blend them in real-world paddling situations.

Who This Course Is For?

This course is ideal for:

➡️ Beginner to intermediate whitewater paddlers looking to build solid fundamentals
➡️ Self-taught paddlers who want more structure and clarity in their technique
➡️ More experienced paddlers who want to refine efficiency and clean up habits
➡️ Anyone returning to paddling and wanting to rebuild confidence from the basics

You don’t need to be paddling hard whitewater to benefit. If you can paddle a kayak and want to move your boat with more control and intention, this course will meet you where you are.

Why are strokes so important?

Good strokes make everything else easier. They reduce effort, increase control, and give you more options when the river gets technical. Strong fundamentals also make learning advanced skills, like ferry gliding, eddy hopping, surfing, and rolling, far more straightforward.

This course gives you:

➡️ A clear framework for developing technique
➡️ Key reference points for efficient movement
➡️ Skills that transfer directly to real whitewater
➡️ The ability to self-coach and continue improving over time

You may not always paddle exactly as shown in the lessons, and that’s the point. By understanding what “good” looks like, you’ll be better equipped to adapt your strokes to different rivers, features, and conditions.

If you’re looking for a clear, progressive, and practical way to become a more skilful and rounded whitewater paddler, the Strokes Course is a strong place to start.

One subscription gets you instant access to every course on the OWW learning platform, so start learning today with our 7-day FREE trial.