Poll: What percent of the time do you use a double blade paddle solo?

[yellowcanoe]

Not condemnation at all but the low angle kayak stroke is no different than the low angle canoe double blade stroke. I use a 230 in both. In the canoe I pay attention to never bring the blade back further in the water than about 8 inches in front of me. This "cab forward" stance minimizes yaw and allows for less sweep that would be generated by an overly long paddle My double blades are not Euro shaped. The blade part is long and narrow. There isnt much difference in width of the craft. 21 inches in the kayak.. 26 in the canoe.. That is about 12 cm. A 240 might granted work better. However sea kayakers are going to much shorter blades like the old length for whitewater back in the 90's
You'd think height would matter but a high angle stroke with a blade designed for that doesn't change the length of the blade needed.. Except for the wettage factor

So I disagree with part of your thinking.. cause I think and from my experience I know that blade shape matters.

 

[Cruiser]

YC, I don't think we are saying anything different. I am saying that you use a low angle paddle with a low angle stroke and that I have found this to be the best solution for me in a canoe. The paddle length should be adjusted to the user and generally you will need a longer paddle for the low angle stroke (compared to a high stroke). If you find that a high angle stroke works for you, it should be paired with a high angle blade design and the length adjusted for the user.

I don't think I suggested the blade length should change, but the shape of the blade does change to accommodate the different stroke angles .... to allow the entire blade to be easily covered with water.

The point of the post was to suggest that if you try and paddle a canoe with a high angle "kayak" style, it may not be the best and that if you want to try a twin blade on a canoe, it just isn't a matter of grabbing one and trying it, you need to take the same care to fit it to the user as you would with a single blade.

A lot of the posts here were mentioning water when the blade passes over the canoe (wet lap) and it just seemed to be so different to my experience that I needed to post some details to make sure we were all making comments on the same thing.


Brian

 

[yellowcanoe]

I have the same experience. More drippage from hit and switch than from double blading.. High angle lessens sweep but increases showers. For many on a canoe trip of a coupe of weeks showers could be a good idea.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

A paddler bothered by water drips in the boat makes as much sense to me as a hiker bothered by dirt on the soles of his boots or a skier bothered by snowflakes on her nose. Paddling is a WATER sport.

As a novice whitewater canoeist 37 years ago in NorCal, I paddled solo in a canoe with heavy, nine foot double blades for a short time because I naively believed that I would get the same benefits as I did in a kayak, especially having a brace on both sides. Fortunately, expert canoeists showed me how much more control I could have in a canoe with a single blade, including the greater effectiveness of a single blade low brace over a double blade high brace. I put away my Carlisle, Mohawk and Folbot double-clubs and have never used them in a canoe again.

Of course, I used double blades from 1996 to 2004 when I paddled sea kayaks almost exclusively, a period which was a monumental exercise in bad judgment and near masochism. In a kayak with a double blade, I never, ever got anything close to the motion control pleasure I get in a canoe with a single blade. The delicate and smoothly blended micro-aggressions of a single paddle cannot be duplicated by a windmilling double. Also, holding out a double blade all day with one end constantly up in the air is much more tiring than paddling with a short single paddle, which you can keep buoyantly in the water for part or all of your stroke recovery.

While a double blade can increase speed . . . kerchunk, kerchunk, kerchunk, after boring kerchunk . . . like Iskweo I'm in no hurry when paddling, and I use a relaxed single-sided correction stroke. Almost always I'm solo, so there's no one to keep up with. When I do need speed, as in heavy wind, I change to hit & switch paddling with my 48.5" carbon bent shaft -- and in those adrenally stressful circumstances, I sure don't give a hang about water drips.

 

[frozentripper]

with a double blade, I never, ever got anything close to the motion control pleasure I get in a canoe with a single blade. The delicate and smoothly blended micro-aggressions of a single paddle cannot be duplicated by a windmilling double. Also, holding out a double blade all day with one end constantly up in the air is much more tiring than paddling with a short single paddle, which you can keep buoyantly in the water for part or all of your stroke recovery.

While a double blade can increase speed . . . kerchunk, kerchunk, kerchunk, after boring kerchunk . . . like Iskweo I'm in no hurry when paddling, and I use a relaxed single-sided correction stroke.

Excellent explanation on what makes for quality time spent in a canoe. Like Robert Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values - where the slower and far more interesting side roads were preferred over the faster freeways when travelling. On a motorcycle rather than a car, there's more contact with the surrounding landscape and by taking the slower side roads, the need for speed doesn't blot out everything else. You have the time to enjoy the finer points as you travel through.

There's probably some equivalent with paddling where the expertise needed to travel well on a motorcycle becomes more rewarding than simply driving a car on the freeway. Probably most here already know what that added value is so... 'nuff said.

 

[gumpus]

Never. Double bladed paddles feel crazy heavy to me versus my preferred carbon straight shafts like the straight Zav I used today. Plus I don't have the skills/knowledge to avoid dripping on my dog.

 

[ppine]

I like the kayak paddle on lakes and wide open rivers. For tighter quarters a canoe paddle. I take both on overnight trips.

 

[Guest]

I use single blade, straight shaft paddles exclusively. I particularly like wooden paddles that have t grips.
A few of them are pictured.

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Too old to change; don't really want too.

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The two Lutra paddles I own only get used on deep water lakes. They're my 2 favorite paddles of maybe 50+ paddles that I've owned over the last 5 decades.

P.S. Some have stated they see no photos; only little boxes and questions marks.
As I type this, I'm looking at the photos............
So I can see them on my computer, but nobody on the web site can see them?
I don't know what the problem is, but the photos are a bunch of my wooden, straight shaft paddles; some with t grip/some not.
In the grand scheme of things, I don't think anybody missed much.
Don't know what else to do; I give up.

Joker

 

[memaquay]

Wow, quite the thread resurrection, I'm wondering how I missed it the first time. Pretty sure everyone knows how I feel about the dirty double blade, in my books its like dating your cousin.

 

[PaddlingPitt]

Kathleen and I use only single blade, straight shaft paddles. We can’t claim to be purists, though, as we paddle plastic canoes. If I were younger, I would certainly get me a w/c canoe.

 

[Iskweo]

Heyyy...my cousin is actually rather cute Mem.

I have tried to like a double blade...and I do, in a kayak. Maybe I am just tooo good with a single to appreciate the double.

 

[Jim Dodd]

I have one $129 plastic kayak. Five or six double bladed paddles.

I never use any of them. I can't get in or out of the yak. I don't like water running down the paddle onto my arms. I don't like the extra water in my canoes either !

A single blade is all I ever intend to use,

So ? I'm in the Single Blade School

Having said that ? Each to his or her own ! It's not a problem to me.

Jim

 

[Alan Gage]

Single blade for me. I look down on the double blade because I've put a lot of time and work into single blade skills (of which I still have much to learn) and it annoys me that some schmuck can pick up a double blade and instantly paddle in a relatively straight line while enjoying themselves without putting in hours and hours of frustrating practice. And then they have the nerve to refer to me and they in the same breath as 'paddlers'. As if they don't know that paddling isn't about fun, it's about building technique!

Not only does the single blade paddle give me a reason to look down my nose at the double blade dippers but I also feel I have to beat my drum as loudly as possible to drown out the voices of dissent from those who have spent hours and hours of frustrating practice learning the nuances of the double blade (which I most certainly don't posses). Externally I lump all double blade paddlers in the same boat (kayak) but deep inside there's a disturbing little voice that says some of them might be better paddlers that I am. Or, even worse, that they enjoy themselves on the water just as much, or more, than I do while lacking fundamental skills!!!

Now if you'll excuse me I have some negatives to develop in my dark room. Sure, they might lack artistic and creative skill but they were shot on a vintage 1930's camera with exposure determined by a spot meter using the zone system so obviously that will more than make up for their uncreative boringness.

Alan

 

[Robin]

I like the single blade, don't like non wood paddles or bent shaft paddles and prefer my plain old x kids camp's ash beavertails over anything else.

 

[Guest]

Heyyy...my cousin is actually rather cute Mem.

I have tried to like a double blade...and I do, in a kayak. Maybe I am just tooo good with a single to appreciate the double.

My (second or third) cousin too, at least back in my lusty years.

I used nothing but straight wood shaft singles from ages 8 to 28. I could paddle all day with a wood single blade, especially stern of a tandem. I didn’t know there was an option. Got a pack canoe in 1988, started carrying a double and a single, and increasingly using the double. Damaged a wrist and found that the double caused me far less pain.

Used a double as often as possible for the past 30 years, small stream narrows and sail ruddering excepted. At first Mohawks and equally heavy wood doubles, today a UL carbon double, with a wood straight shaft as a spare.

I guess I understand the not-a-real-paddler single blade sensitivities, but I am pretty dang good with a double blade, and folks I paddle with have largely gotten over it.

Cruiser wrote “My group used to make fun of me when I showed up with my Grey Owl Tempest, until they tried to keep up .... not surprisingly, almost all of the group now uses a double blade”.

Most all of the folks I paddle with, even the die hard single bladers, now carry a double. It’s just another tool.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Most all of the folks I paddle with, even the die hard single bladers, now carry a double.

Sorry, but that's an Aristotelian logical contradiction. You either were not paddling with a "die hard" single blader, or you were but they were paddling a pack boat, SOT or kayak that day. I'll wager it's the latter because, other than on your canoe rack, I've only seen a handful of traditional CanAm open canoes south of the Mason-Dixon Line this century.

 

[ppine]

I built a sea kayak and learned to like the double bladed paddle. It is efficient, and I like it in the wind. I bring both kinds of paddles.

 

[Cruiser]

Thanks for remembering that comment Mike, anyway, I wonder if this survey would yield the same results as it originally did .... might be an interesting experiment to see if we are evolving

Brian

 

[yknpdlr]

Sorry, but that's an Aristotelian logical contradiction. You either were not paddling with a "die hard" single blader, or you were but they were paddling a pack boat, SOT or kayak that day. I'll wager it's the latter because, other than on your canoe rack, I've only seen a handful of traditional CanAm open canoes south of the Mason-Dixon Line this century.

I must be one of those contradictory single blade die hards because there are very few exceptions to me never carrying a double blade paddle. Not even as a spare when I have a choice of using a single blade or two. It is virtually mandatory to paddle my Hornbeck pack canoe with a double blade, as the bottom seat configuration and gunwale width makes single blade paddling quite impractical. In almost all cases I never have a double blade in my PB Rapidfire, even though that boat is sold with a double blade in mind for most people. The exception is that for the rules of the local 90 mile racing class created for such boats (solo-rec) rules require use of a double blade (to make it equitably the same and fair for all I suppose). I have paddled my RF in that race a few times and did use the required double blade. That does not mean I liked it. Other times when not racing I have paddled the entire 90 mile route in a single day using a single blade only.

 

[goonstroke]

I only paddle with a single, bent or straight depending on the situation. But some of my best friends are doppelflapeurs. Nessmuk says they are OK:



I don't know anything about "clinker" construction, but it sounds like it leaks so I'll pass on that as well.