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There are many sports on our complete list of sports which involve paddling of some sort in water. Paddles can be either single blade with an open flat surface at one end for pushing through the water, or dual blades with paddle faces on both ends. Although paddling is different from rowing, I have included both these sports disciplines as they have many similarities, most significantly they both use a long-handled blade to propel the athlete through the water.

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Single or Dual Blade Paddles

• Canoe Slalom — a kayaking and canoeing sport in which athletes use a kayak or canoe to navigate through a whitewater course that consists of hanging gates on river rapids.
• Wildwater Canoe — kayaks or canoes are used to negotiate a natural stretch of rapids on a river as fast as possible.
• Canoe Freestyle / Playboating — a whitewater sport in which athletes on kayaks or canoes perform various moves in a fixed place called the playspot.

Single Blade Paddles

• Canoeing — paddle sport in which the rider kneels or sits facing forward in a canoe.
• Canoe Sprint — sprint canoe racing on flat water over distances from 200m to 5000m.
• Outrigger Canoeing — racing using a type of canoe featuring one or more lateral support floats known as outriggers, which are fastened to one or both sides of the main hull.
• Ice Canoeing — a team sport in which a five-member crew completes a course, in which riders have to push their canoe on the frozen parts of the river as well as row in the water.
• Canoe Polo — like polo on water, the objective is to score by throwing or hitting a ball through a goal suspended two meters above the water.
• Standup Paddleboarding — a person stands on a board and uses a paddle to propel themselves through the water.
• Rafting — the objective is to navigate downstream on river rapids using an inflated raft.
• Dragon Boat Racing — a paddling sport using a long boat with many paddlers.
• Canoe Marathon —  athletes paddle a kayak or canoe over a long distance, often with out-of-water sections.
• Rowing — a sport in which competitors propel a boat using oars.
• Surfboat Rowing — a team of riders compete using surfboats on a course out and back through the surf.
• Sweep Rowing — each rower has just one oar which is maneuvered with both hands to propel the boat.
• Sculling Rowing — a form of rowing, in which a person uses oars, one in each hand, to propel a single or double scull rowing boat.
• Coastal (Offshore) Rowing — a type of rowing performed on open water, requiring wider and more robust boats than those used on rivers and lakes.
• Beach Sprint Rowing — short rowing race in the open water also involving a beach sprint.
• Ocean Rowing — involves rowing races across entire seas and oceans.

Double Blade Paddling

• Kayaking — boat races using a small, narrow boat propelled using a double-bladed paddle.
• Sprint Kayaking — sprint kayak racing on flat water over distances from 200m to 1000m.
• Extreme Canoe Slalom — a fast-paced kakayaking sport in which four athletes race each other on a whitewater course through up and downstream gates whilst also completing an eskimo roll.
• Surf Kayaking — involves surfing in the ocean using a kayak.

Paddling with the hands

• Paddleboarding — a person kneels on a board and uses their arms to propel themselves through the water.

Similar Sports

• Indoor Rowing — competitions performed on a rowing machine that simulates the on-water action.
• Snowboating — a winter sport in which athletes use a kayak to descend down a slope covered with snow (also called Snowkayaking)
• Kayaking is part of the Quadrathlon, an endurance sports event composed of the four individual disciplines of swimming, kayaking, cycling and running.

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Related Pages

• List of Rowing Sports
• Kayaking/Canoeing Equipment
• For sports that use a different type of paddle, see Racket Sports.
• Complete List of Sports