Harassment

When taking pace you generally have to respect the leading paddler and try not to hamper his freedom of movement.

You hamper the leading paddler if you are too close to his paddle, or as shown in the animation below, if you are placing yourself too far ahead of the wave. He might get annoyed with your presence and just leave you behind. He is the one working the hardest – but you can make it even harder for him, if you´ve got the energy – and the moral for it!

By the middle of the kayak – just in front of the wave there is a trough. You can move a bit forward and place yourself where your trough is merging with the trough from the leading kayak. This will make his kayak sink deeper into the water and give him considerably more water resistance.

The effect of the harassment is naturally greatest on shallow water where the kayaks create the biggest waves.