I know this can vary by weather and other factors, but pick the number that is closest to the percentage of time you use a double blade paddle on an average trip when paddling solo.
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Happy Mathematics Day! ❌📐♾️
Poll: What percent of the time do you use a double blade paddle solo?
- Thread starter Glenn MacGrady
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I realize you had to have some parameters to choose from but I wish there was a "less than 25%" choice. I used to use a double blade in my solo canoes quite a bit but I haven't picked one up in over two years at this point. I still carry it with me since it can be my spare and also be put into use on a particularly windy day but I really have stopped using it most of the time.
That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.
snapper
That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.
snapper
I have a Grey Owl Tempest (270 cm) which I love, I have paddled with a regular Otter Tail, but the twin provides so much more efficiency and control, I keep the Otter tail as the backup.
Brian
Brian
Don' t know. To some extent its boat dependent. I always use a single in my MR Monarch. I use a double more than 50 percent in my Nomad and Heron. I use a double 95 percent of the time in the Rapid Fire.
WildFire almost always single but not exclusively. I had a double with me last trip and while the boat wanted to swop ends in a tailwind on Little Tupper the double was handy to correct the miscreant( as a side note it was bow heavy). For my solos a 230-240 is fine. A Greenland paddle even better but mine is a single piece of wood and unwieldy.
I have gotten much better at a high cadence hit and switch stroke for cruising and the Monarch loves it. I can move just as fast as with a double but with more precision on boat placement.
WildFire almost always single but not exclusively. I had a double with me last trip and while the boat wanted to swop ends in a tailwind on Little Tupper the double was handy to correct the miscreant( as a side note it was bow heavy). For my solos a 230-240 is fine. A Greenland paddle even better but mine is a single piece of wood and unwieldy.
I have gotten much better at a high cadence hit and switch stroke for cruising and the Monarch loves it. I can move just as fast as with a double but with more precision on boat placement.
G
Guest
Guest
And I wish there was a choice of “more than 75%”.
I use a double blade 95% of the time. An old wrist injury makes single blading for more than a few minutes a torment.
The 5% single blade use is limited to places too narrow to swing a 260cm double, fast water maneuvers where a single shines and low water gravel or sand bars where I’m abusing the paddle as a short push pole. I’m not doing that with a carbon double.
There is another 20% when I am not using a double blade, and have a single blade in hand, and even putting it in the water occasionally. But mostly I’m just holding the single blade as a comfort item while sailing. In that regard, hey, maybe I do “use” a single 75% of the time.
Well, not just a comfort item; it is gobs easier to manage even a small downwind sail while holding 50ish inches of stick. 8 ½ feet of double blade gets awkward fast with a sail.
For actual time spent paddling with a double blade I went with “Always” in the poll.
I have done a fair amount of kayaking and I have tried using a double blade in a canoe. I even bought a two piece Aqua Bound long double blade paddle last year to give it another shot but I have not yet been able to persuade myself to try it.
I have nothing against it morally or aesthetically but I just don't care much for it. I don't like the paddle drips in the boat. Wind tends to catch the upper blade..
I find that I can do as well with a light bent shaft paddle using a hit and switch technique which I will use sitting or kneeling. It may be that I could achieve a slightly faster paddle cadence with the double blade, but at the expense of less control and having to lift a heavier paddle overhead.
I have nothing against it morally or aesthetically but I just don't care much for it. I don't like the paddle drips in the boat. Wind tends to catch the upper blade..
I find that I can do as well with a light bent shaft paddle using a hit and switch technique which I will use sitting or kneeling. It may be that I could achieve a slightly faster paddle cadence with the double blade, but at the expense of less control and having to lift a heavier paddle overhead.
Way back when a tandem woodstrip was (nearly) my only canoe (the old Grumman doesn't count, though it taught me a lot about paddling), the builder installed a removable very high center seat. I found double blade paddling from that center seat in high wind and waves the most stable and easy way to go. That was 20 years ago or so. But as my single blade skills improved, I found less and less need to go with the double.
I picked up a Hornbeck 10.5 foot canoe several years ago and have used it a lot, with as much time being carried on my back to remote ponds as is spent on the water. But with the sit on bottom seat configuration, a double blade is really the only practical choice.
My currrent goto solo canoe is a Placidboat Rapidfire. Even though it was built meant to be paddled with a double blade, with the custom high seat I had installed (hgher than the stock "high" seat option), I never find the need to go double blade. I use it both recreationally and for race training, either with a thin blade wood straight paddle, or with a bent carbon. I have raced the Rapidfire several times in the Adirondack 90-Miler. In the race class that was added specifically for the RF and similar boats (solo-rec), race rules (unfortunately IMO) require use of a double blade. In the years when Iused that boat in the race, I trained minimally with a double.
So for those reasons and since 25% is far more than I ever paddled double, I voted "never".
I picked up a Hornbeck 10.5 foot canoe several years ago and have used it a lot, with as much time being carried on my back to remote ponds as is spent on the water. But with the sit on bottom seat configuration, a double blade is really the only practical choice.
My currrent goto solo canoe is a Placidboat Rapidfire. Even though it was built meant to be paddled with a double blade, with the custom high seat I had installed (hgher than the stock "high" seat option), I never find the need to go double blade. I use it both recreationally and for race training, either with a thin blade wood straight paddle, or with a bent carbon. I have raced the Rapidfire several times in the Adirondack 90-Miler. In the race class that was added specifically for the RF and similar boats (solo-rec), race rules (unfortunately IMO) require use of a double blade. In the years when Iused that boat in the race, I trained minimally with a double.
So for those reasons and since 25% is far more than I ever paddled double, I voted "never".
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I never use one, not needed for my style of paddling, I don't like the feel of them in a canoe... In a sea kayak, that is different!
Zero point none, I do not use double blades, only straight shaft single blades.
Bob
Bob
I use a double-blade in only one canoe, i.e. my Osprey. I've paddled the boat less than 50 days since I purchased it used last year, but in that time have used the double-blade about 75% of the time. Thing is, I paddle several other boats, mostly tandems, mostly soloing, in none of which I'm motivated to paddle with a double blade. I don't love the look of double-blading 34-36 in. beamed tandems, but if doing so is an effective way of moving forward for some, then hallejuia! In my folding kayak world of Kleppers and Tyne, I split 50/50 on double and single blading. What I really love, though, is paddling my tandems solo in three general styles: 1/3 kneeling, 1/3 sitting, and 1/3 standing with SUP paddle. The standup part allows me to believe that I'm a pioneer, exploring paddling territory where few other souls have dared to roam. Like speaking a language practiced by the last living members of a dying tribe. Okay, I exaggerate. Purists, please check your disapproving scowls at the door! Standup paddling canoes is even more fun than skunks on Sunday school picnics! Faster than the Flash. And cooler than Willie Nelson.
Over the past few years I have rented 2 different solo canoes for trips mainly to see if I wanted to buy one. They both came with doublebladded paddles. What I learned is that I prefer my single blades and I will be soloing in a tandom.
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What he said ^^^^^
SUP is old school.. We have a Long history of poling in New England and standing with Maine Guide Paddle in a canoe..
No one here feels the need for an expensive SUP paddle.
I find that I cannot do high cadence single hit and switch for miles at 60 strokes a minute. I have to in order to keep up with my deaf husband in his sea kayak.
On Lake Superior in a headwind in order not to lose him ( he cannot hear anything even a whistle, which is pretty useless in wind anyway) I had to switch to double to attain a 60 paddle dips a minute rate to keep up.
I tell him to paddle alongside but when you have early Alzheimers you forget quickly.
No one here feels the need for an expensive SUP paddle.
I find that I cannot do high cadence single hit and switch for miles at 60 strokes a minute. I have to in order to keep up with my deaf husband in his sea kayak.
On Lake Superior in a headwind in order not to lose him ( he cannot hear anything even a whistle, which is pretty useless in wind anyway) I had to switch to double to attain a 60 paddle dips a minute rate to keep up.
I tell him to paddle alongside but when you have early Alzheimers you forget quickly.
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I haven't tried a double blade yet, but I'd like to. Seems like it would be helpful for long distances and/or paddling in wind and waves. Anyone have recommendations for a decent, moderately priced double blade? Maybe I should try to find a place that rents them to try it before buying one?
flyingbison;n50212 Anyone have recommendations for a decent said:
I hate to say it but light weight is a big help.. And they tend not to be cheap..In this case I think its better to avoid wood ( my husband would disagree..but I find his paddle enormously heavy).I have had a carbon fiber paddle for over ten years. I got it free though with an expensive canoe purchase.
Otherwise my old paddle ( from 1995 and still going strong) is a Eddyline Wind Swift. I have the cheapest layup. My solo boats are pretty narrow and I use a 230 but some people who double blade a canoe feel that they need a 260 or 280 Those are hard to find.. Shaw and Tenney does make some but for me they are too heavy.
http://eddyline.com/paddles/touring-paddles/#Paddle-3
I think Bending Branches has longer doubles. But the longer you go the more swing weight influences you. So far I dont get wet with a shorter paddle but some do as everyone paddles a little differently.
I wasn't advocating the purchase of expensive SUP paddles, YC. I was writing, albeit lightheartedly, and perhaps with one too many zoological references, about the ways I love to paddle. I'll forgive the "No one here" dismissal, but I confess it did ruffle a feather or two...
Good news, though: I finally saw someone this morning, better yet, a woman, standup-paddling a cedar and canvas canoe just across from me in our local reservoir. Finally! So I'm not completely alone in this endeavor after all! Does it count, though, if she's my wife?
Good news, though: I finally saw someone this morning, better yet, a woman, standup-paddling a cedar and canvas canoe just across from me in our local reservoir. Finally! So I'm not completely alone in this endeavor after all! Does it count, though, if she's my wife?
Contagion starts with two! Its a Maine joke at the Symposium here that we have had all the equipment for years for SUP but our marketing stinks..I wasn't advocating the purchase of expensive SUP paddles, YC. I was writing, albeit lightheartedly, and perhaps with one too many zoological references, about the ways I love to paddle. I'll forgive the "No one here" dismissal, but I confess it did ruffle a feather or two...
Good news, though: I finally saw someone this morning, better yet, a woman, standup-paddling a cedar and canvas canoe just across from me in our local reservoir. Finally! So I'm not completely alone in this endeavor after all! Does it count, though, if she's my wife?
