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Re: Strip: Making a paddle
By:John Messinger
Date: 6/1/2016, 3:12 pm
In Response To: Strip: Making a paddle (Shawn Jones)

The only homemade paddle I have finished is a Greenland paddle which doesn't flutter much. I have the Werner Ikelos bent shaft and find it to be about the most stable Euro paddle I have used. Most touring paddlers use the paddle with a straight back motion, which will give a bit of flutter to most any paddle. The most stable paddles I have used are the wing paddles, but they are used with a different paddle motion that has the paddle blade close to the boat at the catch and moves it essentially on a diagonal such that it exits the water about 3 feet away from the side of the boat in order to get the foil shape working.

Here is ace Tim Brabants using a wing paddle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwhdA5wtY2c

I like my Epic Mid Wing paddle so much I now use it for touring and recreation unless I think I am going to be fending off rocks and such. I gave up on making paddles, because a wing would be beyond my fabrication abilities.

You don't need to be an Olympic paddling machine to comfortably use a wing efficiently.

Messages In This Thread

Strip: Making a paddle
Shawn Jones -- 6/1/2016, 1:49 pm
Re: Strip: Making a paddle
John Messinger -- 6/1/2016, 3:12 pm
Re: Strip: Making a paddle
Shawn Jones -- 6/3/2016, 12:26 am
Re: Strip: Making a paddle
Nick Schade - Guillemot Kayaks -- 6/1/2016, 7:00 pm
Re: Strip: Making a paddle
Alex Ferguson -- 6/1/2016, 11:25 pm