>By "modern" and "old-fashioned" are you referring to materials or shape or >what? If you clarify your question it will help me to know just what you >are asking. >thanks >Barbara Kossy > By "modern Greenland" I mean any light, usually graphite narrow bladed paddle. Typical are the Werner Little Dipper and Arctic Wind, and the Eddyline Windswift. I have owned and used all of these and find any of them dramatically less tiring over long distance at moderate speed (3.5 to 4.5 knots) than a large bladed paddle such as the Werner San Juan. This with the very important proviso that I use a low Greenland stroke. By "old fashioned" I mean any traditional narrow blade, wood, Greenland style paddle such as those available from Superior Kayaks or Betsie Bay. I also have the Superior wood paddle. My Eddyline Windswift and Superior paddle are identical in length (7'6"), and are very similar in power. I try to use the identical stroke with both. Overall I prefer the Windswift because it is so light. I haven't missed a roll with the Windswift in many, many tries. I have only had 1 rolling session with the Superior and missed the first try. Sculling braces are more forgiving with the Superior but still fine with the Windswift. I also have a graphite Little Dipper at 8' and my wife has one at 7'6". The 7'6" Little Dipper has less power than either the Windswift or Superior paddle at the same length. I still like the 8' Little Dipper and use it when I want to paddle at a slower cadence. I believe that most traditional wood paddles are sold at 7', which I find too short. The resulting cadence is not at all pleasant for me. All these are unfeathered. I believe that feathering a narrow blade paddle prevents proper use of the low stroke. Jerry *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Thu Mar 26 1998 - 22:41:44 PST
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:29:54 PDT