Re: why paddles matter - or do they?

"Dave Van" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message news:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
> "Peter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
> news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > andrei wrote:
> >
> > > My wife, who has the same kayak, is having a hard time.  Our kayaks
> > > came with 30$ paddles Carlisle.  The next paddle model up (judging by
> > > price) was already at 90 bucks!  Should she consider changing?
> > >
> > > I mean, what does the paddle do?  It "grabs" the water so the kayaker
> > > can pull himself forward, right?  So what's the big deal about
> > > paddles?!  I don't imagine that two buckets on each side of a broom
> > > would be very pleasant to use, but is it worth spending 90 bucks or
> > > more on a paddle?  Would that help my wife?
> >
> > Depends on what problem your wife is having.  Cheaper paddles are
>  generally
> > heavier and holding up the extra weight can be quite tiring on a longer
> > trip, especially for a smaller, lighter paddler.
> >
> 
> They also tend to have blade shapes that don't do a very effective job of
> preventing flutter in the water and they can tend to want to slip one way or
> another. Also leading to fatique and just being a pain in the butt in
> general.  Cheaper blades that are made of non reinforced thermoplastics tend
> to bend a lot in the water, putting the energy of the paddler's stroke into
> bending the paddle rather than moving the kayak forward.

Which is not always all that bad. I had a very cheap plastic paddle
for a while (I am a real newbie with less than 50 paddling trips, day
trips at that). It was a little short and hard, with a bad shape and
it really sucked. I went ahead and took some Black Walnut I had and
some Maple for the blades and made a paddle 240cm. I did some research
before shaping the blades too. Looked real hard at Jimistix website
for this. This thing is pretty heavy but also very flexable. I don't
seem to have problems holding it up for a day though. If you put one
end on the ground and push the middle of the paddle, it will easily
flex almost 2 inches (5cm). Yes, you spend a lot of energy "bending"
the paddle during the stroke but if you hold the end of the stroke for
a beat, you get it back. The biggest thing is for me, this is much
more comfortable. A little longer than maybe it should be for my size,
with a good size head, the softness and round entry on the head makes
for a very comfortable stroke. I do all flat water and am in no
partucular hurry most of the time. My neighbor picked up a carbon
paddle this season, I did not get to ask him how his shoulders are
doing but my concern, with all the joint problems I seem to have was a
real soft entry and easy on the shoulder. So for me a flex paddle
changed things for me and eliminated sore shoulders, even if I do lose
a little top end speed.
In the case of the origional poster, I suggest two things. Get your
wife a better boat, or let her slow down to her own pace instead of
chasing you while you "go into a headwind for three hours". I have
also found that a long teather to my 9yo when things get a little
snippy is really not such a bad idea. Helps her steer, gives her a
little break from full force paddling, makes her day a lot nicer all
together.
Scotty