fitness paddling: exercise, train, race by kayak & canoe

If you get a K1 and a wing, when you first start paddling, you are so pathetic that you think something must be wrong and then you ask for help from someone who is good at K1-ing with a wing. Most people who are good at K1-ing with a wing do indeed have good (enough) technique. Furthermore, pretty much everyone who is good at K1-ing with a wing agrees on the same basic principles of what is good technique and have generally similar strokes.

On the other hand, for single blading, you are going to be using a more stable boat. You can get the paddle, start pulling on it, and if you pull hard, you go fairly fast. So you don't NEED help or coaching and therefore, you are much less likely to ask for it. Furthermore, if you ask a few racers what the ideal single blading technique is, you will likely get a variety of answers.

The most successful racers in the north (talking about those who race the Ausable) use a very high stroke rate and a relatively short stroke where there is not much torso rotation and a lot of power from arm movement.

For the Safari, many racers have a slower stroke rate, which most naturally goes with a longer, more powerful stroke--where more of the power comes from torso rotation, and less from arm movement.