Canadian Paddles

On 2-May-2005, "Julia De Silva" wrote:

> 1. What's a guide to the correct length ?

Decide on how you paddle the most - i.e. kneel, sit etc.
Get into that position and measure the distance from your
shoulder to the water surface. This is the length of the
paddle shaft. You may find you prefer an inch or two up
or down from that.

Then choose whatever blade style you like and add the length
of that.

Always size based on the shaft length, not overall length.

See if you can rent a couple of paddles to get a feel for
them before you buy.

> 2. Which wood is best ?

Stay away from the cheap pine paddles. After that, there's
lots of choice. Hardwood will last longer and oil finished
paddles are easy to maintain. Black walnut looks cool to
some, while others prefer a light maple.

> 3. Which design / make of paddle is best ?

As far as design - that's highly personal. I prefer otter
tail, myself. For WW, I preferred a shorter, wider paddle.

As far as make goes - there are lots of good brands. Look
around and skip the cheapest.

Mike
 >> Stay informed about: Canadian Paddles 

The plastic paddles are good for shallow rivers, or anytime you are
likely to hit bottom. Also good when you loan out the canoe.

I had the good fortune to be able to demo different paddle lengths in my
own boat before I bought a wooden bent shaft paddle. I ended up with a
somewhat different length than the rule of thumb would suggest.

Richard


Julia De Silva wrote:
> Hi there everyone.
>
> Recommendations for wooden paddles please. I've currently got 2 plastick
> paddles which came with the canoe, and I'm looking to move on to wooden.
>
> 1. What's a guide to the correct length ?
>
> 2. Which wood is best ?
>
> 3. Which design / make of paddle is best ?
>
> We mostly go on smallish rivers, flat or grade 1 water at the most.
>
> Thanks in advance
>
> J
>
>
>
 >> Stay informed about: Canadian Paddles 

"Julia De Silva" (jds@myob.com) writes:
> Hi there everyone.
>
> Recommendations for wooden paddles please. I've currently got 2 plastick
> paddles which came with the canoe, and I'm looking to move on to wooden.
>
> 1. What's a guide to the correct length ?

5' is standard, 6' if you stand up much. I paddle solo style kneeling low
on the bottom of my home made boats and 5 ft is good. If I paddled
sitting up on a seat I'd want 6 ft, especially when pushing along off the
bottom in a current. I find in shallow water I kneel high or stand to get
a better look at what's in the water ahead. The 5' paddle isn't realy long
enough for that.

>
> 2. Which wood is best ?

ash wood has the advantage of a twisted grain so the shaft can be more
flexible without breaking, and the paddle lighter weight. for distance
paddling it helps to have some spring in the shaft. personally I don't
paddle far enough to worry about it.

>
> 3. Which design / make of paddle is best ?

sort of depends on what sort of paddling you do.

>
> We mostly go on smallish rivers, flat or grade 1 water at the most.

I do the same and use a cheap Canadian Tire paddle on which I've sanded
off and fibreglassed the tip. That tip has to be touched up once a year. I
don't want to spend more money on a paddle and them be worried about
scratching it on a rock or from pushing off the bottom. In spring when the
current is swift I've poled my way up a shallow creek with a paddle. No
way I'd do that with an expensive trophy paddle. If Canadian Tire sold a
6' paddle I'd probably go for it but they only sell 5' paddles and that's
good enough.



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 >> Stay informed about: Canadian Paddles 

Isn't the Internet Brilliant sometimes.
Thanks VERY MUCH to everyone for the advice.

J
 >> Stay informed about: Canadian Paddles