Basics of Buying a Kayak Paddle
Swing Weight Lighter is better but, combined with durability, costs a lot more. Paring even a fraction of an ounce from a paddle blade dramatically reduces the aggregate weight you lift and swing during a day that requires 20,000 paddle strokes.
Materials Aluminum-shafted models with molded plastic blades range from ponderous clubs to suitable paddles. Yes, they tend to be heavier, shafts are round rather than comfortably oval, and aluminum is cold to the touch - but the better paddles in this group are cost-effective for kids and infrequent paddlers, as well as for your own emergency spare.
Whitewater or touring, fiberglass is the choice of most enthusiast and recreational paddlers-light, durable, and reasonably affordable. A neat combo is a fiberglass shaft with a lighter-weight composite blade, resulting in an overall increase in performance without a major jump in price.
Wood is lovely to the eye and to the touch. Prices range from affordable to what you'd pay for fine art, and some of the paddles will qualify as fine art. Wooden whitewater paddles will have protective edges and tips. Some paddles are sheathed in fiberglass, others are protected with thick layers of varnish.
Composites, such as graphite and carbon fiber, result in strong, featherweight paddles that unfortunately come with a heavy price tag. If you want to leave miles in your wake or shave tenths of seconds from your time, they're delightfully worth it. If you want to bang around in the shallows or surf, each whack is fiscally painful.
Winging It With a conventional paddle, the blade is inserted in the water near your ankles and serves as an anchor toward which you pull your kayak.
A wing paddle features a blade shaped more like an airplane wing. When moved laterally through the water, it creates forward lift, which pulls the boat along. The wing tracks very solidly in the water, and also encourages torso rotation and straighter-arm paddling.
With these paddles, low braces work, rolls are fine, and sweeps are okay, as long as you only do the first half. The downside is that if you try a high brace or a sculling stroke, you're likely to swim. Steering corrections made at the end of a stroke don't work.
Most recreational or touring paddlers will be happier with a conventional blade. For those who demand a couple of percentage points greater speed at the cost of some stroke versatility, the wing is an option worth exploring.
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