Paddling
Paddling with regard to watercraft is the act of manually propelling or navigating a small boat using a blade that is joined to a shaft, known as paddle, in the water. The paddle is also used to steer the vessel and may either be a single bladed or double bladed . The main differences between paddling and rowing is that the item used to manually propel or 'row' the boat, known as an oar or sweep, is connected to the boat by an oarlock whereas with paddling, the paddle is not connected.
Rowing
Rowing has an ancient history in the Mediterranean, Scandinavia and in Egypt (which is in northern Africa). Generally, rowers face towards the back or aft end of their craft, whereas paddlers always face towards the front or bow of their craft.
Rowers can however face forward and row the boat forward either by means of a special mechanism, or else by using a different technique of oar handling. Examples of this are in Italy during an historical re-enactment of a rowing ceremony known as the Vogalonga (the long row) that takes place annually in Venice, Italy. Small boats in Asia can be seen where the boat operator is standing or sitting, facing forward and manning a pair of oars.
Oars can be paired, with one oar applied to each side of the boat. When two hands of one person man a single oar, this is referred to as rowing using a sweep oar. Whereas, when one person mans a pair of blades, one hand controlling each, this is referred to as sculling using a pair of sculls rather than oars. A scull refers to a boat that is rigged for sculling.
Another distinction between paddling and rowing is that a person holding only a single blade paddle can propel or paddle a boat forward, backward, or sidewards in a straight line without switching paddling sides, whereas there generally must be a pair of oars or sculls (held by either one or two people) in order to efficiently move the boat forward in a straight line.
There is also a technique for propelling a small boat forward by hand power using just a single sweep oar, that is referred to as sculling. For this technique, the sweep oar is projected over the back or aft end of the boat, or stern, sometimes resting in a notch formed in the transom of the boat or else pivoting and held within a pair of small guide posts called thole pins. In single blade sculling, the blade moves transversely behind the boat whereas in rowing and double blade sculling, the blades move longitudinally alongside of the boat.
Chinese sampans utilize a specialized sweep oar called a yuelo (pronounced: you-low). It is S shaped and the handle is usually tethered to a post on board the boat. It hangs over the stern of the boat and is manipulated side to side in a flattened figure of eight shape through the water. Pressure is exerted by the blade towards the water backwards in order to propel the boat forwards.
In Burma (Myanmar) single paddles with very long shafts are controlled by fishermen by wrapping one of their legs around the lower portion of the paddle shaft while in a standing position facing forward. By pulling their legs backwards and thrusting their torsos forward while holding the top of the shaft in one hand, the leg paddlers can propel their boats ahead.
There are also double oar rigs used in Asia where the blades are controlled and powered by the legs alone, leaving the hands and arms of the rower free.
Double bladed paddles were developed to propel kayaks in Alaska, Canadian arctic region and Greenland.
Gondoliers propel gondolas forward in a straight line using a single blade oar while in a standing posture. The oar is connected to the gondola towards the aft end of the boat and the blade is handled more like a paddle than a conventional sweep oar to gain purchase in the water. The blade moves underwater similar to a single canoe paddle forward propulsion stroke, such as the "J" Stroke and the Canadian Stroke. Therefore, gondolas and sampans combine aspects of both rowing (single blade attached to long shaft which is connected to the boat) and paddling (forward propulsion achieved by a single blade).
In West Wales Coracles on the River Teifi and River Towy are operated by a single paddle held by one arm projecting forward of the craft and are swept in a figure of eight movement to pull the craft along. This method frees up the other arm to operate a fishing net.
Canoeing
Canoeing is the activity of paddling a canoe for leisure, navigation or exploration. In America the term refers exclusively to using one or more single blades or paddles to propel a canoe forward. However, in Britain canoeing is used to refer to kayaking and Canadian canoeing is used to refer to canoeing. The International Olympic Committee and the International Canoe Federation both use the term "Canadian Canoeing" and "Kayaking".
There are sub-varieties of canoeing, such as whitewater or wildwater canoeing, outrigger canoeing. Travelling white water in a whitewater raft can involve using either paddles, or a pair of oars, or both.
Outrigging
Outrigger canoe racing is a team paddling sport which uses the outrigger canoe . The sport is also known as Va'a (Wa'a) racing in some parts of the Pacific and Waka ama (Māori) in New Zealand.
Kayaking
Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving across water. Kayaking is differentiated from canoeing by the fact that a kayak has a closed cockpit and a canoe has an open cockpit. Kayakers use a double bladed paddle and sit in a seat on the bottom of the boat with their legs extended out in front of them. Canoeists will either sit on an elevated bench seat or kneel directly on the bottom of the boat. However, sprint racing canoeists kneel on one knee in the "high kneel" posture.
Dragonboating
A Dragon boat (simplified Chinese: 龙舟 or 龙船; traditional Chinese: 龍舟or 龍船; pinyin: lóngzhōu, lóngchuán) is a very long and narrow human powered boat used in the team paddling sport or Dragon boat racing which originated in China.
For racing events, dragon boats are not rigged with full decorative Chinese dragon heads and tails and are not required to carry a large drum aboard. The decorative boats are used in ceremonial events. They do howevever use smaller and lighter dragon heads and tails and drum for racing. They are not normally used during practice.
Rafting
Rafting or whitewater rafting uses a raft to navigate a river or other bodies of water. This is usually done on whitewater or different degrees of rough water, in order to thrill and excite the raft passengers. The development of this activity as a leisure sport has become popular since the mid 1970s.
Surf skiing and paddleboarding
These two watercraft differ in the way that you've[who?] got SUPs stand-up paddleboards, which are steered with a singled bladed paddle and normally used to surf waves in ocean and rivers as well as navigating easy rivers. Another facet of the sport involves a sit-on-top kayak-paddleboard and using a double-blade paddle to negotiate surf and more tranquil waters.
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