So what canoe paddle should I buy? 

Where should I use it?

 

Well I shall start this article with a kind of disclaimer. Everyone has a favourite paddle and they will use it whenever they can, and each paddler will also have a preferred material and they will wax lyrical about if properties and benefits.

What I am going to do in this article is to describe the features of different paddle styles, materials used and uses they are great at. I will not prescribe where and when they should be used.

 

So how do you know when and where they should be used? Well read this, think about it then go out and paddle and find out where you prefer to use your specific paddles. Hopefully the guidance I will give will save you some broken paddles and make days out on the water more effortless.

 

 

 

 

As the above picture shows, the range of paddles is mind boggling, the uses they are intended for and the materials they are made out of is just as diverse.  I will start off with blade shapes and will end the article with material choices.

 

Blade shapes: -

 

So why is there such a variety of blade shapes? The open canoe, has been used all over the world by pretty much all known peoples, dug out canoes have been found in the UK, Africa’s, Polynesian islands and the birch bark canoe from north America and its derivatives have been used the world over. Because of this varied usage, the way that the paddle was used changed with application, location and people giving us the full spectrum of shapes that have been developed over generations to be the optimum at what they were used for.

 

Generally speaking though, you can group the paddles into two broad areas. Flat/deep water and fast/shallow/moving water, then for completeness we have a more modern grouping of general purpose.

 

 

 

Ottertail: -

Very long and thin blade, similar to a kite shape that has been stretched. The tip of the blade is the thinnest part or the face; this is for a variety of reasons. Firstly it allows the build up of power to be gradual, as the blade gets deeper in the water more face is used thus eliminating any sudden over powering of the wrist and forearms. Secondly it gives finer control on the more “slicey” strokes. This is an excellent blade for flat water paddling as you can effortlessly keep power on and can gently tweak the steering.

 

 

 

 

 

Chieftain variant

This variant of the otter tail doesn’t taper to the end as much, which means the power comes on a lot quicker and enables you to gain more powerful steering at the J end of the power stroke. Because of this power gain, this paddle is excellent in deep moving water and on flat water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Voyager variant

The voyager variant of the otter tail takes the tradition long thin voyager shape to ultimate lengths. You get the nimble control of the Ottertail, but the power gains are tremendous. The blade is considerable larger in area than its equivalent sized Ottertail. Down side of this is that the tendency is to overload the wrists on long flat water trips. Great for moving deep water, where power is required, not so good for long flat water trips.

 

 

 

 

 

The below picture shows the differences in the three blades, thought the differences appear to be marginal, imagine the effect over the hundreds of paddle strokes you do on a days paddling trip. The otter tail really protects your wrists from sudden loading of power, but the overall power is limited.

 

 

 

 

 

Beaver tail

The tear drop shaped paddle is a popular choice of many paddlers. The reason it is so popular is that as a go anywhere general purpose paddle it works well.  You can use it on deep flat water, as its profile lends itself to “slicey” strokes well, but it can tire your arms quickly due to the speed in which the power builds up. Where is really outshines most other shapes is on moving water. This is due to the majority of the blades surface is in the bottom half of the blade, so when is only half put in the water you still get a majority of the possible power, excellent for shallow moving water uses. Great for putting power on quickly when needed. Excellent choice for a bow paddler as part of a tandem crew.

 

 

Sugar Island

The sugar island is a wide shortish blade shape that puts power on quickly, and works well is shallow water.  On flat water is is ok, but not relaxing for the wrists or forearms, as part of a tandem crew is is fantastic for the bow paddler, as aggressive steering strokes, as used in the bow, are excellent with this type of paddle.

 

 

 

Voyager

Very similar to the sugar island,  but is is a little thinner and tends to be slightly longer.  This is the blade shape that is used in most general purpose paddles, as is works ok on flat water, and does a good job on moving water. The power builds on quickly, so allows for fast acceleration but due to the longer slightly thinner shape allows for gentle build up on the arms.

 

 

 

 

 

What material?

 

Paddles are made out of nearly as many products as there are shapes of paddles. Each has various characteristics that makes them useful and worthwhile trying. For simplitctiy I will stick with the main ones, being wood, plastic and composite.

 

Wood.

This is a gorgeous material to have a paddle made out of. A well made wood paddle is a durable piece of kit, that feels nice in the hand, is lightweight and looks stunning. The benfits of wood are:-

• Variety of shape
• Lightweight
• Warmth
• Feel of the water through the paddle
• Durability

 

The problem with wood is that it needs to be looked after. The best paddles are unvarnished and require protecting with regular applications of linseed oil.  Varnished paddles require less day to day work, but once ht evarnish is cracked or worn through the water can be drawn into the paddle and can then rot the paddle from the inside out.

 

Composite

This is where you get a mix of fibreglass, Kevlar and carbon fibre. These paddles can be formed into a large variety of shapes and uses and due to their nature are fairly durable and extremely lightweight.

 

Benefits of composite are: -

• Lightweight
• Feel of the water through the paddle
• Durability
• Wide ranging shapes available

 

The downside of most composite paddles though is the cost of them. They can cost a lot more than their wood or plastic counterparts although they last longer, with far far less maintenance.

 

Plastic

Plastic paddles tend to be mass produced vacuum formed paddles, these are cheap, fairly durable and therefore what most people start off with.

Benefits of plastic: -

 

• Cheap
• Durable

 

The main problem with plastic is that it is dead, what this means is that you cant feel the water and changes in pressure through the paddle, and to make it strong they tend to have ridges along the centre of the blade, which makes slicing strokes extremely hard to achieve.

 

 

 

So what paddle and what material? Well I have a composite sugar island, a plastic sugar island, a wooden beaver tail, a wooden chieftain and a wooden voyager variant as my main selection of paddles. This covers most eventualities I think.

 

I have tried to stay away from advising one paddle over another, but the biggest advise I can give is to say” paddle with as many paddles as you can before you buy.”

 

Richard Witheridge

Chief Instructor

ProAdventure Ltd

www.proadventure.co.uk

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