We had a tight bunch of paddlers back then in the northeast. From Maine to NJ they were. We ran many trips that we all travelled long distances to participate in them. My first boat was a Mariner Escape. My first paddles were Klepper paddles about 9 ft long. As a canoeist, I had shoulder problems. The high (left) hand/shoulder in my canoe stroke would rapidly become inflamed and painful after a few hours of paddling. I liked kayaking because I could keep my arms down. As long as I kept my arms down, my shoulders were not a problem. On the rivers, with my old Phoenix Cascade white water boat I used a 6.5 ft (200 cm) Iliad, 90 degree offset paddle. As Joe said, you can't use long paddles with boats built to turn easily. The trick with ww boats is to learn to paddle in a straight line, with sea kayaks to learn to turn the boats. White water requires constant rapid turning. There must be no resistance to turning. I could use a 90 degree paddle because paddling in white water is intermittent, not constant. The Iliad has a big blade. I rolled by shifting my grip back to the base of the rear blade. A group of us went out to a lake several times a week to practice rolling. We did not miss rolls. The first time I ran a class 5 river (Gauley, WV) the trip leader asked me one question only. Could I roll my boat? Yes! I went over 5 or 6 times that day-did not fail to roll. Another fellow broke his boat in half and walked out on the railroad tracks. Another paddler swam so often he was exhausted and also walked out. A third paddler swam several hundred yards of the longest set of rapids. That was scary to watch. River right ended in a deep "keeper" hole. The swimmer was fighting like hell to swim to the left side to miss that hole. The current was taking us all toward that hole. The swimmer made it far enough left. I can still remember looking down into it as I shot by the edge of it. But sea kayaking requires unrelenting wrist flexing for offset paddles often resulting in tendonitis. One of my first paddles was a 9 ft klepper paddle. I marked degrees at 5 degree intervals on the shaft at the ferule. Then I turned the offset angle until the rotation from left-side stroke to rightside stroke was just matched by the rotation achieved by lifting my left hand to my chin when going to the right hand stroke. With only a trace of wrist rotation, that was 70 degree offset. I called Werner and asked them to make me some long paddles with 70 degree offset. I remember it well. They said you can't do that. No one makes paddles with less than 85 degree offset. Happily, they made what I asked. And what is acceptable today? Dogma, ever a pain in the ass. I had another paddle, don't remember what it was. Was it a Lightning? I can remember every paddle I ever had. Except I broke a paddle off Newport, RI one day while surfing some waves breaking high over a ledge. Poof, two single blades. I don't remember what that paddle was. I tried to put my spare Klepper paddle together, but the ferule was too corroded. I borrowed a spare paddle from another of our paddlers. Hard to paddle with two long handle single blade paddles. Didn't have those hand paddles. Dagger boats without rudders are hard to use with a long paddle-no resistance to turning there. Must use shorter paddles. Dang boats are like white water boats, but they are good for teaching rolling. My problem with short GP paddles is that when I pull one through the water, nothing happens. There is no obvious resistance to pull against. With my long paddles, put blade in water, feel the resistance, set feet, rotate shoulders/torso, drive boat forward past the paddle blade, blade holds its position in the water, boat leaps forward. I like that. End of stroke, opposite blade is in position, I just drop it into the water and rotate torso the other way-boat leaps forward. It suits me! In wind I just keep the shaft down. It does not catch the wind from any angle. Chuck Sutherland *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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