How Steering a Canoe Works Canoes don't just move in straight lines. Usually the person in the back of the canoe (the stern) is steering the canoe where they want it to go and the person in the front (the bow) can assist in turning the canoe. This is accomplished through several different methods, some of which are shown in the image below. from: https://www.motherearthnews.com/nature-and-environment/how-to-canoe-zmaz82mjzglo Each of these maneuvers exerts a torque on the canoe which causes it to turn in the water. As John Denker points out, "To calculate the torque, you need to know the force and the lever-arm." According to Andrew Zimmerman Jones, the magnitude of the torque can be calculated by multiplying the length of the lever-arm by the magnitude of the force and then multiplying that by the sin(theta) where theta is the angle between the force and the lever-arm. What does this mean for canoeing? This means that a longer paddle (the lever-arm) will make it easier to create more torque. In other words, using a longer paddle will make it easier to more effectively turn your canoe.

Previous Intro Next