Re: [Paddlewise] Epic Paddles

Duane wrote:
>>>>>>I've barrowed a friends Epic Wayfarer a few times and found that it
fluttered terribly in the water. Otherwise, it seemed pretty nice, which was
a real shame, because the fluttering in the water was bad enough that I
would never buy or use one. I recommend Werner or Lightning, or if you want
to go inexpensive, AquaBound. I've heard good things about Lendal, but I
haven't tried one.<<<<<

Except for some Aquabounds almost any paddle I have ever used has had some
noticeable flutter during an accelerating stroke. I think this is due to
what I call the "falling leaf effect". I use both an ultra light Epic
Wayfarer and an ultra light Lightning Std. paddle and noticed no difference
between them in the amount of flutter I perceived. I was switching back and
forth every few minutes looking for what the differences were between them
and found very few and those were of little consequence. They are now my two
favorite paddles. I have also used an early Werner Kauai for some time and
it seems to flutter pretty similarly to the Epic and Lightning as well. The
Aquabounds stood out from other paddles to me for their minimal flutter and
I liked that a whole lot about them. Unfortunately, even when they still
made composite blades they aren't nearly as light as some.

I like lightweight and now that there is nearly a pound difference it is way
too big a price for me to pay to avoid some flutter. I can also pretty much
avoid flutter with any paddle by using it with a "Wing" paddle stroke. Start
near the boat and move the blade progressively away from the boat throughout
the stroke. This keeps it on single glide path rather than it acting like a
falling leaf.  What really bug me are extremely narrow blades where the
falling leaf effect is so rapid that you don't know where the blade is going
to be next. At least with a wider blade there are only a few predictable
flutters even when you pull hard straight back.

Was the Epic much lighter than the other paddles you tried? It has been my
experience that you notice the flutter more on lighter paddles. I suspect
this is because they have less mass to change direction so can do it
quicker. Of course, this extra quickness in other areas is one of the things
I really like about lightweight paddles.


Matt Broze
www.marinerkayaks.com

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