The following videos may provide a better feeling for doing side displacement and side slips. When doing side slips try and keep the boat moving in a smooth constant motion. Body position is important when doing side slips: stay as close to the centre (front-to-back) of the canoe as possible. Although it is not necessary to heel the canoe when doing side slips, it may actually make the maneuver more difficult, I generally have my canoe heeled because it gives me a better paddling position. When doing a draw (particulary a sculling draw) the canoe may actually move better with the canoe heeled away from your paddling side. Turn your body, at least your shoulders, to face the direction you are moving. Both your hands should be outside of the canoe with the grip hand only coming inside a the end of a basic pry. The paddle should be vertical in the water to provide the most 'face' of the blade for pulling (pushing) in the direction you want to move. The blade of the paddle should be well submerged. Keep your strokes smooth and constant making small adjustments as needed instead of large corrections.
Basic Draw. I am using an in-water recovery sliced directly out
from the canoe. In this case I want the canoe to continue moving
directly sideways and the in-water recovery allows a little better
control. There is a little movement each stroke to account for the
current and the breeze that was blowing. In a case of 'do as I say not
as I do': the blade of the paddle should be submerged the same
amount during the whole stroke. My blade gets a little deeper
throughout the stroke which is something I will need to correct.
Sculling draw. When doing side displacement solo I find a sculling
draw more effective. When done well it provides a strong pull
sideways as well as good control over the whole boat. The paddle
blade should, if possible, be deep in the water. Try to keep the
speed constant and smooth. I find that moving both hands allows for a
better sculling motion. Many resources talk about this stroke as a
'figure-of-eight' with a draw-slice-draw motion this tends to cause
your canoe to wiggle in the direction you are moving. Try to slice
the paddle back and forth in a line with some pitch on the blade for a
more contestant pull.
Running draw. To side slip while the canoe continues to move
forward a static draw can be used.
Running side slips can also be done backward
Often the terms push away and pry are used interchangeably but there is a distinction: the pry is short and the gunwale is used as a fulcrum, a push away is a slightly longer stroke (away from the canoe) and the gunwale is not used as a fulcrum. When doing prys the paddle blade should start deep, almost under the canoe.
Basic push away. Like the draw above I have used an underwater
recovery slicing the paddle back to the side of the canoe. You should
notice that the thumb of my grip hand is away from me on the recovery
(except on the third recovery). I switched the direction of the
recovery the third time to correct for a little breeze that I felt.
Sculling pry. Life is not perfect; on the first portion of the
scull my blade caught on a submerged tree branch. I just thought I
should explain the 'hitch' at the start. There is a little 'wiggle'
in the motion of the canoe probably because my stroke is too long,
with practice I hope to get my side displacement a little smoother.
A running pry can be done as well. The canoe turns into the side
slip in this example; this is something that needs a little
more practice but that is all I have for right now.
Here is a reverse running pry. I also need some more practice on this as well.