Solo Tripping Paddles

[Peach Canoe]

What paddles do you like to trip with?

For solo tripping I take 2 paddles and sometimes a pole. For deep water cruising I use a one-piece Chieftain style cherry paddle, and for the rest I take a store-bought carbon fibre river paddle.

The carbon fibre blade split a couple of days after I bought it. When I fixed it I re-covered the last 2 inches with a couple of layers of Kevlar that sandwich in a quarter inch of Kevlar-felt around the tip. I use this carbon paddle for shallow places, like setting out, landing, river maneuvering, and when in doubt. The cherry Chieftain is one I made, and of course it's for deep and thoughtful water.

I have a 12-foot bamboo pole I sometimes take.

 

[yellowcanoe]

Grey Owl FreeStyle. Discontinued. similar to the GO Fleetwood. Symmetrical blade and grip
Zaveral Rec racing carbon fiber bent shaft.
Sometimes a Grey Owl Voyageur if its a rough trip and I might push off rocks.

No ottertails.. Not enough torque generated on the edges for turning a small solo the way I paddle. If I were paddling a tandem solo I would take my Turtle Paddle Alqonquin Guide with a variable grip. Its got a long narrow blade and short shaft. I can also hold it horizontal for Northwoods stroke.

 

[Canotrouge]

No Title

For me, on trips, when ever there is deep water(90% of our trips arena rivers) I use a Maliseet or tête de boule style paddle, I really like that shape, good blade surface, carries most of its width low on the blade so really good power even in shallower water. I like the weight of Sitka Spruce...

if the water is really shallow or the river swift with rocks gardens or rapids, I usually switch to my Zap ww paddle or a werner bandit carbon, but less and less on trips, that said that is the only thing I use when ww paddling on day trips.

I have a few Zav and Levass carbon fibre ultra light(7oz) racing bent shaft that sit sleeping in there fleece bag in a corner of the basement....

 

[Guest]

Bending branches expresso plus straight with customized pear shaped grip and a bending branches navigator 250cm double..
Turtle

 

[Alan Gage]

20150219_001 by Alan, on Flickr

I like lightweight carbon. Relatively short (49")** bent shaft unless I'm in rapids or rough water, then I might switch to a straight carbon. My oldest carbon has well over a thousand miles on it. I'm quite tough on my paddles with lots of pushing off and scraping over rocks/gravel when paddling upstream through shallow water. I've had to repair it a couple times (after enough of the tip wears away they begin to delaminate on the edge) and the last time I did so wrapped the edge with two layers of dynel before taking it on a 400 mile river trip. The dynel took a beating but the paddle survived to trip again.

Kindly disregard the double blade in the above picture. It's a holdover from my kayaking days and now gets used by my nephew, Evan.

Alan

**Edit to add that sometimes that 49" feels a little short in my larger solos. I cut down a longer Zav to 50" and will spend some time with it this summer to see how I like it in comparison.

 

[yellowcanoe]

OOOOOHHHH!. I have always wanted an ONNO paddle! Niiiiice....

 

[MacCamper]

Paddle envy! Wow Alan.
I have a nice Winona bent, a Bending branches straight, several Old Town relics and a Werner Skagit double blade. All of which can get me where I want to go...just not often enough.
Mac

 

[Guest]

solo paddling is a very individual sensual thing. I have tried hard to like my ZRE straight and other paddles, but for me, and I may be the only one, the bending branches expresso plus straight is the most pleasurable. I even bought a longer one for my higher body height solos.
Turtle

 

[BWCA66]

Must have a dirty camera lens but here are my 2 go to paddles. The one on the right is one my nephew made me as he was trying to see how light he could get an all wood paddle and still get it to hold up. It comes in at 15oz, has a 15 degree bend and has been on a number of BWCA trips and is doing just fine. The one on the left is one I put together with and 8 degree bend. Both of them are due for a good sanding this winter and then a new coat of finish.

 

[Guest]

What paddles do you like to trip with?

It varies a lot depending on the boat choice, open or decked canoe, and the type of trip, river trip, lake trip or coastal waters. The only thing that doesn’t change is that I bring both a lightweight carbon double blade and a sturdy wood single blade.

Since I use a double 90 percent of the time the single is my spare/back up stick and I am less concerned about weight and more concerned about durability with that paddle. The single gets bashed in rocky shallows, gunwale scraped in rudder prys when sailing and other naughty abuses.

In the open solo canoes or decked sea canoes I most often bring a 260cm Werner carbon Camano, but in the wider soloized tandems I’ll go as (absurdly) long as a 280 cm double blade (BB carbon Day Breeze). The open canoe single blade is usually a Bending Branches Expedition plus, but in the decked canoes I use a short oddball Sawyer; oddball because it is 49 inches long and yet the heaviest single blade in the family collection. I have abused the hell out of it and can’t imagine ever managing to break it.

Occasionally I will bring a more fragile single blade just to mess around, an old Camp bent shaft or a cherry Nashwaak, or even one of my father’s over long guide-style sticks just for the memories.

My whole family paddles, and we all have our favorites.



That’s a lotta paddles, and the crappy Mohawk loaners are on another rack.

BTW, those paddle racks are neither elegant nor aesthetically pleasing, but each one holds 8 blades. These things, with the arms covered in split foam pipe insulation.

http://www.amazon.com/LeHigh-Crawfo...qid=1453833491&sr=8-1&keywords=shovel+hangers

 

[sweeper]

Here an option if you add more.

http://www.duluthtrading.com/store/...handled-tool-rack-HR13.aspx?processor=content

Works well for my hoes.

 

[yellowcanoe]

7 of my paddles are inside the house in fancy paddle hangers. 30 are cold noosed by rope in the paddle shed. I like a couple especially though they will never be on a trip. A Gil Gilpatrick woodburned,, rope edged huge beavertail and a Craig Johson Voyageur shape out of curly maple.

I forgot one.. one actually used soloing a tandem Canadian Style. An Algonquin Guide paddle with a variable grip.

 

[snapper]

The two paddles I always bring with me are an old Al Camp straight shafted paddle and a (relatively) new We-no-nah 10 degree bent shaft paddle that weighs very little but feels great in my hand. Before the new bent shaft my go-to was another old Al Camp bent shaft with a 12 degree angle. I also pull out the one paddle I made years ago in a one day class under the tutelage of Caleb Davis. Each one is "just right" at the time I decide to use it so it's nice to have the choice.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper

 

[Will Derness]

While I have light weight carbon double and single blades that I like to use, extended remote trips on rocky rivers has me usually packing my old Norse paddle.

It is heavy, but it is one tough stick. The aluminum bar riveted in as a blade tip leaves me with no worries when I use it to push or pole off the bottom of a rocky, gravel strewn stream bed. Norse went out of business for several years but they are back making paddles once again. Norse was very popular in the WW canoe crowd.

Reliability is its virtue, not weight.

 

[yellowcanoe]

I got one of those too. Forget how old it is though not as old as me.. For sure it is bombproof but its too heavy a swing weight for me now!. I had to do a mandatory cross draw on the Ossipee here a few years ago.. Missed.. got windowshaded. I was just too slow.

 

[tump_lion]

my #1 (solo) tripping paddle is ottertail -- maple, a little shorter than the old chin-rule at about chest height...but it's really all about shaft/blade length, my upper hand rarely gets above my nose when cruising -- my #2 paddle is beaver-tail and a little longer for reach and pushing and shallow-water abuse -- would like to try a maine-guide type shape in this role, but the canadian dollar and shipping for 6' paddles is presently pushing down the to-do list...

 

[Canotrouge]

my #1 (solo) tripping paddle is ottertail -- maple, a little shorter than the old chin-rule at about chest height...but it's really all about shaft/blade length, my upper hand rarely gets above my nose when cruising -- my #2 paddle is beaver-tail and a little longer for reach and pushing and shallow-water abuse -- would like to try a maine-guide type shape in this role, but the canadian dollar and shipping for 6' paddles is presently pushing down the to-do list...

Never thought of making one your self?? you would save tons of money and have a paddle that would be the way you like!! That is what I do, for me and for others...

 

[tump_lion]

i did, in fact, and do...the otter above is mine -- (the beaver is an old ex algonquin rental with repairs -- i love loved gear -- I've got about 30 linear feet of 5/4 ash and about eight feet of cherry in the garage...even have some cardboard templates i've fiddled with for a maine-guide shape...

 

[Canotrouge]

i did, in fact, and do...the otter above is mine -- (the beaver is an old ex algonquin rental with repairs -- i love loved gear -- I've got about 30 linear feet of 5/4 ash and about eight feet of cherry in the garage...even have some cardboard templates i've fiddled with for a maine-guide shape...

There you go. Get to work, and don't forget to show us your progress and final product!!

 

[Peach Canoe]

The cherry Chieftain (opening post on page 1) that I have been using for many years is about to get a sibling-- a Beavertail in Sitka Spruce.

I like the Chieftain a lot, and I find it to be a predictable and dedicated deep-water blade-- it feathers beautifully, draws respectably, rudders adequately, and once underway it delivers the right amount of thrust per effort. Also, it rolls effortlessly in the hand for in-water recoveries.

The cherry is a little stiff in this paddle-- not dead like my carbon shaft, but it has minimal feedback. Sitka paddle shafts are my favourite for their delightfully springy feedback-- livelier than basswood, and not as stiff as cherry. I like the spring you can get out of ash, but the shaft has to be shaved to less than an inch to get the flex I like, and that's just too thin for my hands.

I have a couple of Beavertails, but not in Sitka. A Beavertail is different from a Chieftain or Ottertail, and of course the perceived advantages are subjective. As you know, the Beavertail is wider near the tip and this delivers good authority on the initial catch on power strokes. This style of blade has good effectiveness in shallow water, it yields a strong and wide sweep, and it firmly pushes back in a last-ditch low brace.

I'll post some photos as I put this new Sitka Spruce Beavertail together.