RE: [Paddlewise] Toksook

John March said: 
> The design of the Toksook 
> is attractive, but the weight is a killer.  I paddle an AT 
> Exception and switching to the Toksook was painful. 

That was the same feeling that I originally had. I tried a friends Toksook
for all of about 5 minutes before handing it back and saying that it was too
heavy and I didn't like the 90 degree feather.

Then I took my first class with Derek and Wayne. Wayne is an old friend and
he insisted that I use his spare Toksook for the 1st half of the class. I
very reluctantly did.

By the time we stopped for our lunch break, I was running to the car to
confer with my wife before coming home with a new paddle (she's our family
CFO and doesn't like to be surprised when it comes to my kayaking gear).

There are times that the weight is actually an advantage and after Derek
showed me that twisting the control hand wrist with a feathered paddle was
wrong, I really started to like this paddle.

Even when I'm going for a long paddle on a relatively calm ocean, the
Toksook is on my back deck. It is great for getting through surf, high
winds, large following seas, and again, the roll becomes totally effortless
with it.

Steve Holtzman
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