By: Kelsey Thompson & Immersion Research - The Double Pump is a drill that involves bobbing in flatwater, alternating from your bow to your stern. By pulling the stern of your kayak underwater you create more energy to force your bow underwater when your stern resurfaces. This is an important skill to master as it is a major step towards any of the advanced freestyle moves that involve getting your boat vertical.

1. The first thing you need to do is get your boat on edge and keep it there. Keep you weight over your cockpit and lift up with one knee while pushing down with the other.

2. Now take a powerful forward sweep stroke on the side your boat is edged toward and shift your weight back slightly to pull the stern of your kayak underwater. Your bow will reach it’s peak height as your stroke reaches it’s end. As your bow starts falling back to the water turn your forward sweep into a back sweep, reversing the motion and pulling your bow under water.

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3. Focus on turning your upper body to lead each stroke. The power for this move comes from your core muscles. When you take your back stroke think about turning your upper body down towards the water and unwinding your legs under your body. As you take your forward stroke turn your body to face the sky and follow with your legs. You shouldn’t be throwing your weight forward or back, focus on twisting your upper body side to side. Think of your upper body as a pivot point, staying as upright as possible. The more you move forward or back the less balanced you’ll be.

By repeating these motions you should be able to bob back and fourth from bow to stern. If you find your paddle is being pulled under your boat and flipping you over use a sculling angle for each stroke. This means cocking your wrists back when you take a forward stroke and forward when you take a back stroke.

The goal of this drill is to establish a rhythm. In order to get vertical in flatwater you’ll need to stay in time with your boats natural urge to pop to the surface. Working with your boats energy will give you more power and make all of the freestyle moves much easier.

Practice doing the double pump on both sides as it will help speed up your learning curve.

More moves: Backdeck Roll, Bow Stall, Stern Stall, Flatwater Cartweel, Flatwater Loop and a video.