The Low Down on Paddles

Photos: Top Ten U.S. Rivers for Rafting

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She was a grand lady, graying hair pulled into a ponytail, intelligent eyes crowsfooting in a warm, glowing face. Over morning coffee at a weekend clinic on Lake Wisconsin, she was questioning us about the merits of various sport solo canoes.

Several cups of mud and a few flapjacks later, she'd determined to paddle them all, ordering a white Kev version of the one fitting her best. Strolling toward the freestyle beach, she took a detour towards a new, white, seven series BMW."I'll just get my paddle." Rummaging through the trunk, she emerged with a long Muskrat Made paddle. It had copper wire wrapped through holes that ran along both sides of an eight-inch split. The supposed waterfowl and sunset that ornamented the backface were indescribable. What was wrong?

The paddle, that stick in your hands, is the primary canoeing implement. An extra fifty dollars invested in a paddle has more impact on your equipage than an extra five hundred dollars invested in a hull. Here was an intelligent human being, driving a seventy-thousand-dollar car and purchasing her fourth two-thousand-dollar canoe, puttering around with a piece of kindling more suited to stirring paint than propelling a canoe.

We dug through our paddle bags, loaning her a couple of workably sized sticks. When she drove home, she had a new canoe on order, three new paddles in the trunk, and a wry smile on her face.

She'd made a quantum leap as a paddler by beginning to use gear that enhanced her enjoyment of the sport.

The paddle controls the canoe's movement. The freestyle blade is fairly large in order to resist movement as we pull the hull towards the paddle and to provide enough bracing area at comfortable stroke cadences.

Paddle Blade Shape

Modern paddle width varies from eight and one-half inches to nine and one-half inches. Wider blades force the paddler farther over the canoe rail, narrower blades require inordinate length to catch enough water. Blade length varies from twenty-one to twenty-four inches on our multiple tracing; the shorter lengths are multiple-use production paddles, those over twenty-four inches are generally custom built for powerful paddlers.

Blade surface must match the individual paddler's size, strength, conditioning, and cadence. Larger blades transmit more power to the water through increased resistance to blade movement. This translates to greater acceleration, faster turns, more secure braces, and greater stress loading on various body parts. Freestyle's slower cadences limit stress, but the paddle that provides forward power and secure braces at thirty strokes a minute stresses the paddler at a cruising cadence. Use a smaller blade when it's time to move out.

Blades are subtly shaped to perform efficiently. A proper blade needs sloped, or relieved, shoulders, allowing the blade to pass under the canoe during the center portion of a forward stroke. Full shoulders keep the paddle farther abeam the keel. The bottom should be somewhat rounded; a radius of five to eight inches, with tighter radii, roughly two inches, in the corners. This tip shaping allows sure and quiet entry and exit from the water and reduces riffle chewing. In summary, the freestyle blade should be about nine inches wide and about twenty-three inches long with additions or subtractions to fit paddler strength. Tapered shoulders and rounded ends reduce the surface area of our ideal paddle to about 160 square inches, plus or minus 20 square inches. Concerned about stressing joints? Select a smaller blade — one that provides more fluid shock absorption.

Cross-Sectional Shaping

Freestyle paddlers often slice the paddle edgeways through the water in feathered maneuvers which combine bracing security with subtle drawing pressure and can be used for in-water recoveries. Cross-sectional shaping is critical to elegant, effective slicing. Blade edges don't have to cut bread, but finer ones allow the blade to slice with less resistance, turbulence, and flutter. More functional paddles feature fine edging with straight-line taper to the center rib.

Blades are longitudinally stiffened with ribs, reducing flex. Particularly on bent paddles, this rib is placed solely on the blade's backface. This is adequate for cruising but dysfunctional for sliced movement. The spine creates turbulence when water flows across it, increasing drag and deflecting the path of an imbalanced blade. Paddles that slice true need a blade with equal reinforcement on both faces to balance hydraulic jump, and both ribs should be well faired or blended in. Such blades are said to have balanced camber with dihedraled faces.

Recent research shows that cupped and flat power faces transmit more propulsive power, holding water on the face longer than cambered blades. The convex, dihedraled face allows water to stream off the paddle throughout the stroke where the flat and cupped faces lose purchase on water abruptly at the stroke's end. This is apparent in use, as cambered powerfaces ventilate easily. This is observable by watching the air being drawn down the blade and off its edges when a partial vacuum is created by the water flowing off the blade. Cupped and flat powerfaces lose their catch on the water and ventilate suddenly with a glop and a shimmy. Emphasizing control rather than propulsive efficiency, a double-cambered blade is preferable for freestyle paddling.

Evaluate your blade section by using a dock. Stand pierside, and knife the paddle through the water, parallel to the dock edge. Turbulence, wobbling, veering, and resistance due to dull edges, improper foiling, or imbalanced camber will be readily apparent. A well-shaped blade slices through the water like a knife, quiet and true.

While most paddles have straight blades, S shaping deserves mention. The S offers advantages for novice and advanced paddlers alike. The S cleans up a C stroke wonderfully, exerting corrective "kickout" when trailed. The claw forces a clean entry, even when the paddler is trying to be timid. The S is also a masterful exhibition stick. The claw presents a more vertical blade on extended braces and increases the grab turning draws at some loss of bracing. S blade shaping dedicates a power face, functioning efficiently only when the cupped face is loaded. The claw's trailing correction to forward strokes increases drag. S shaping compromises inverted jams; the blade's hook curves away from the hull allowing water to flow behind it. S's also veer towards the cupped side when sliced. The S offers advantages and compromises and is available in straight and fourteen-degree configurations. Try both, you'll want both.

Straight and Bent Paddles

Roughly 60% of a stroke's force is transmitted to the water in the twelve-inch portion of the stroke where the blade is most vertical. The location of this power zone affects the paddler's range of motion and the turning, or torquing, effects of forward strokes. With straight paddles, this power section occurs ahead of the paddler's knee. Bent paddles move the power pulse aft, abeam the paddler's thigh.

Freestyle paddlers usually use straight paddles in solo canoes and a set of matching bents in tandems. The solo's central paddling station offers secure heeling, but the stems are remote and forward strokes tend to turn, or torque, the hull away from the paddle. Straight paddles simplify steerage by locating the power phase of the stroke where it minimizes torque and by reacting the same with either face loaded. In tandems, paddlers are located near the stems and control their boats more easily. They counter each other's torque and often trade the straight paddle's predictability for the bent paddle's advantageous bracing angle and reduced range of motion.

The forward location of the straight paddle's power phase requires more torso rotation to apply power when the blade is vertical. The bent paddle's power pulse is closer to the paddler's body, provides better balance, and uses narrower motion ranges of the same muscles. Bio-mechanically, the bent paddle is less strenuous.

Like the S, any degree of bend dedicates a powerface — yielding a paddle with one effective blade face and a decidedly inferior back face. The paddle must be oriented properly to load the powerface for most strokes. Most paddles feature offset grips dictating which way to hold the paddle. Visual inspection is easy; the V faces forward. The bent paddle's offset requires the palm to roll. This smoothly inverts the blade to load the powerface on reverse sweeps and prys. Acquiring this simple skill transforms the bent paddle into a magical stick for solo and tandem paddlers.

This is a recent discovery because early bent paddles were racing blades. They veered when sliced, and they didn't have enough blade surface for secure and effective high brace turns. The emergence of larger, double cambered, freestyle blades in bent configuration represents a change in thinking.

Bent paddles enhance the low brace christie by presenting a flatter powerface to the water. The brace becomes firmer and the bite of the paddle can be increased, transferring power into the reverse sweep component of the stroke and improving rotation. The better bracing angle allows greater extension across the rail in tandem moves. Bent paddles facilitate inverted jams because the leading edge more completely intersects the hull for increased deflection. Note: Jamming a bent paddle with the backface loaded means less blade contact or extreme paddler extension.

Bent paddles also alter turning draws. The flatter blade angle to the water improves the move's bracing component but lessens the drawing effect, and bents are difficult to control when slicing in-water recoveries. Bent paddles offer advantages and compromises. They require learning the palm roll to maintain powerface continuity, but everyone should try bent paddles. Bend them at least ten degrees; minor angles do not provide enough advantage to offset the complexities of dedicating a powerface.

Either solo or tandem bent paddles are useful on tours for their greater efficiency (more speed or reduced effort). Select a large, well-foiled blade, a longish shaft, and a ten-to fourteen-degree bend to retain dominant control at moderate freestyle cadences. Every tourer, solo or tandem, might also carry a small-bladed bent. Its shorter eighteen-inch blade isn't as effective when bracing, but it scratches less across shallows. It also is ideal in those situations where the cadence must be picked up-paddling into a stiff wind, or with miles to go near sundown.

Grips

The paddle's top grip controls blade angle from thirty inches away. Like any other steering wheel, it should fit the control hand comfortably. The grip needs to be a little wider than your hand and deep vertically, allowing thumb control of blade pitch. It should be broadly radiused across the top (say one-half inch minimum) comfortably filling the palm when in a relaxed position. Any additional shaping that improves comfort, control, and the paddler's retention of the stick is welcomed. Most palm grips are symmetrical, so straight paddles may be flipped and either blade face loaded, but offset grips are more comfortable.

By agreeing to hold a paddle just one way and loading only one dedicated face, the grip can be better contoured to fit the hand, improving comfort while reducing fatigue and friction. The resulting grip, with a palm swell and shaped finger relief overhanging the backface, is termed an offset grip. Bent and S paddles dedicate a powerface by blade orientation and should always sport an offset grip. Symmetrical grips are preferred on straight paddles for the versatility of loading either blade face.

Weighting

Blades are larger than grips, and paddles are always blade-heavy. Weighting the grip helps to make a paddle balance better in the hand. Most custom paddles include this detailing, but all grips need attention to improve creature comfort. Strip the varnish off wooden grips before sanding with 320, then 400, grit sandpaper, then oil with Watco or Dekswood. Wipe excess oil off before it sets. On synthetic grips, carefully scrape the molding seams away before sanding with 400 grit — reducing grip friction is well worth the effort. Some paddlers sand and oil shaft grips too.

Shafts

The grip transmits control to the blade through the paddle shaft. The shaft must be comfortable, torsionally firm, and have minimal flex characteristics to perform properly. The shaft should be nicely ovaled in shape to reduce hand fatigue. The dimensions should comfortably fit the paddler's hand. The shaft must be torsionally stiff for precise pitch control and to resist flutter when accelerating forcefully. Test for torque resistance by placing your feet together, slipping the blade tip between them, and twisting the grip. Torsional rigidity is relative so compare several paddles and remember that a paddle cannot be totally torsionally rigid.

Test for shaft flex too. Leave the tip on the floor after torsion testing and step back, angling the shaft across your front at roughly forty degrees. Supporting the grip with one hand, place the other halfway down the shaft and press down. A relatively stiff shaft and blade are ideal with slight and even deflection along the entire length. Localized deflection, soft spots, cause flutter and loss of control.

If concerned about stressing your elbow and shoulder, select a smaller blade rather than a soft shaft. Smaller blades slip more when loaded, providing fluid shock absorption. Fit the blade size to your cadence and strength and select a relatively stiff shaft to retain finite blade control.

Because the blade length is already determined, we fit paddles by matching shaft length to paddler torso height and seating stance. Here's how to do it.

Sizing

Sit upright on a solid bench or step and measure from the bench to the bridge of your nose. This is your base measurement. For sport straights, add a couple of inches to arrive at a beginning shaft length. For sport bents, add an inch. Fit touring bents to the base length. Exact fit varies with paddling style and specific canoes. Factors indicating a shorter choice include low seating positions, Canadian-style paddling, preference for in-water recoveries, and paddling loaded canoes. Additional length is suggested for higher seating positions, cross moves, high kneeling, and paddling unloaded canoes.

Construction

Most canoe paddles are constructed of laminated wood. Strips of various woods are glued together, forming a shaft blank, before grip and blade sections are added. Balanced combinations of lighter and stronger woods are used to the maker's taste.

The chunky blank is then run through various sets of tooling where all the wood not required to make a paddle is removed. Finish methods that resist water and abuse while protecting glue lines are as varied as layups. Construction upgrades include reinforcing tips against riffle chewing by adding crosslaminates, face laminates of veneer, or fiberglass. Top paddles sport hardwood or synthetic edging.

Further improvement in paddle construction will likely take the form of synthetic amalgams. Stronger, lighter, easier to build, and uniformly consistent in physical characteristics, composites are the materials tomorrow's paddles will be built from. Grips can be shaped in molds, the shaft's flex tuned like fly rods, and blades molded to any shape and cross section we desire with fine edges of impact resistant materials. Current synthetic sticks are designed to racing and touring specs, but if there is a demand for synthetic sport paddles, they will be made.

Top paddles will continue with wooden construction, as mold costs limit the ability of synthetics to be precisely fitted to individual size and preference. Superlative custom makers like Wisconsin's Craig Quimby and Florida's Eric Schooley will continue to offer an array of blade and shaft sizing, flex patterns, and grip-fitting options beyond the abilities of production producers. Shaped, sectioned, and balanced to perfection, then finished like fine furniture, the custom paddle is the acme of form following function as art in a tool for demanding paddlers. But experience is a necessary teacher, and we wouldn't know what to order from a paddlesmith without owning and using a closet full of production sticks.

We need paddles that fit our body size and paddling style in specific hulls, and let's admit we'll need several different paddles. The freestyle blade should match the paddler's strength and cadence. It should be fairly large to provide a bracing surface, sized to not slip excessively at each individual's power level, and shaped to slice smoothly. We need an oval shaft sized to match our hand and stiffened to match individual strength. The grip should be comfortable and controllable, preferably weighted and oiled. It may help if we feel our paddles are beautiful.

So sit to measure, twist and flex to evaluate stiffness, and knife through innocent ponds to evaluate blade shaping. There are lots of great paddles that will enhance your paddling. Take the time to find them.

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