Team Danmark – Dansk Sports Teknologi Forsknings Netværk

In flatwater sprint kayak the main objective is to move the kayak forward with high velocity, however, in doing so drag forces acting on the kayak changes drastically. The paddlers main objective is to overcome this drag acting on the boat through efficient technique and power. It has been shown that the leg kick is very important in kayaking especially in crew-boats (1,2). In a previous study at Aalborg University a setup was developed, which could measure seat and footrest forces in a K1 & K2. Recent technical development has made it easy to measure and quantify the kinematics of kayaks (3). There is currently no literature, which has related the forces in the footrest and seat to the kinematics of the kayak.
Therefore, the study aims to extend the existing setup, so it can measure forces in seat and footrest in a K4. Thereby, giving useful information regarding the leg kick in the K4, and see how the forces are transferred between the paddlers. Moreover, we want to relate the forces produced by the paddler inside the kayak with the kinematics of the kayak. This is a complicated relationship with a lot of influencing factors with among others the hydrodynamics.