Actually both hands are used to work the double ended paddle of a kayak.
The person using the derogatory term is basically ignorant about the fun and plain old pleasure from a kayak.
Mine looks a lot like the two yellow ones on the left. I take it out twice a week for about an hour and a half or two hours. I paddle just a little more than a mile. I rest a lot and slay the fish with my trusty fly rod.
The kayak is excellent exercise that is absolutely required to keep my type 2 diabetes under control.
On Monday morning I made my 93 kayak voyage
I “lived at the junction of great Trout rivers in Western Montana”.