A good kayak paddle is worth its weight in gold! When you are out paddling, you "wave" the paddle many times in a day. Therefore, it is important that you enjoy it.
There are paddles in all price ranges; from simple paddles in simple materials for a couple of hundred Danish kroner to super light, carbon fiber paddles that can cost quite a few thousand Danish kroner. And then there are wooden paddles that you can buy or make yourself. Do you own paddle the cost is negligible, at least as long as you don't count the working hours.
Different paddles on a trip in the Blekinge archipelago, May 2003.
Buy paddle online at Amazon
There are many people who buy an unnecessarily simple paddle to begin with. It's a bit of a shame because a heavy clumsy paddle isn't much fun. Always more fun with something that is a little lighter and smoother. Then it's rarely a good idea to buy the easiest and the one that costs the most money to begin with, because you learn to develop and change both direction and opinions quite a few times. So don't buy the very simplest lump of plastic for a paddle and not the worst carbon fiber monster either, but somewhere in between.
Material and design of kayak paddle
Material
There are paddles in plastic, wood, carbon fiber and combination. Some simple ones have aluminum shafts, etc. Carbon fiber may sound delicate, but the fact is that most paddles last very well. If you paddle a lot in ice, of course they wear down a bit. Wooden paddles have a tendency to chip up relatively easily but carbon fiber does really well if they are not too thin. In normal use, most paddles, regardless of material, last a very long time. It is of course possible to break a paddle by paddling a lot on rocks, mountains, etc., but the water is not very tiring for a paddle.
Split kayak paddles
A divisible paddle is heavier but at the same time so much easier to load, transport and store. Most people probably choose divisible, even if they are slightly more delicate and heavier with the division. The most common are two-piece paddles, but there are also three- and four-piece paddles. With a four-piece paddle, you can pack it into the kayak easily. More and more divisions have stepless adjustment of the angle between the blades and more and more have adjustable length. Adjustable length is very flexible, for example it can be nice to have a slightly longer paddle when downwind or tour paddling and a really short one for winding play paddling.
Straight or curved shaft
Most paddles have a straight shaft with no kinks. There are also paddles with bent and crooked shafts. These bent shafts are sometimes also called ergonomic shafts, bent shafts, cranked shafts and similar names. One idea with the bends where you hold is said to be to reduce the risk of wrist injuries. Don't really know how much of a difference it makes in practice, but it's probably more a matter of taste. Bee has had crooked shafts for several years and has liked it, but I don't think it has made a big difference for us either in terms of injuries or other benefits. Is probably more than something that you can like or not. An advantage of the curved shafts is that it is easy to find where to hold compared to a straight shaft where there is not much to feel except possibly the split in the middle and maybe drip rings towards the outside of the blades. Another advantage/disadvantage of the bent shafts is that they cost a decent penny extra and some like it while others find it unnecessary. Those who are most skilled at paddling technique (exercise and competitive paddlers) always paddle with straight shafts
Spare paddle makes a lot of sense to include, at least one in a group anyway. Now it is certainly very unusual for paddles to break, but it can happen. I've been involved in a couple of paddle crimes, I think it's two on land and one during some shady rescue exercise 😉 To begin with, I had a real "budget" paddle as an extra paddle. It was really boring to paddle with and weighed a lot. If I had had to use it in a sharp position, I probably wouldn't have been able to paddle for so long 😉 A spare paddle should be of reasonably good quality and make sense to paddle with. When you do need it, it's probably in slightly more difficult conditions and then you don't want to splash around with a bag of paddles that you don't enjoy. One idea might be to have two identical paddles so the change is easy, although perhaps two different models are more fun so you can change to get variety or for different types of weather, water or environments. Maybe one with a narrow blade and one with a wide blade?
Paddle length
Not so many years ago most paddles were over 230cm, now it feels like most paddles are under 220cm. So how long a paddle should be varies not only with the width of the kayak, the length of the paddler and how to paddle, as well as a lot it varies over time and taste and taste. With a paddle with adjustable length, you practically get several paddles in one 🙂 When we bought our first paddles in 1998, I think they were 230cm, and most of the latest paddles we have are just over 200cm.
Three different types of kayak paddle
Three different leaves
Roughly speaking, you can say that there are three different types of kayaks;
- regular paddle, also called European paddle or flat paddle. The vast majority paddle with these, easy to get hold of in lots of different varieties. More or less flat leaf.
- Greenland paddle, or really Eskimo paddles or maybe Inuit paddles, long narrow blades, usually wooden and home-made, but there are some who sell ready-made paddles
- wing paddle, for exercise and competition paddlers, this is by far the most common, cupped blade.
Then there are plenty of variants of all three above; different blade shape, material, width, length, different thickness of the shaft, etc
What you choose is a matter of taste. But for most paddlers and most types of paddling, a standard flat paddle/European paddle fits most people best, but there are of course exceptions here. When paddling straight ahead a little faster, most people prefer wing paddles.
Which paddle is the fastest?
Many people ask this question. As with most things, it is rarely the type or material of the gadget that determines how fast it goes or how good you are/become, etc. Most of it simply depends on the motor, i.e. on the paddler. It is true that those who paddle really fast usually paddle with a wing paddle, but that is because they are used to it and have practiced the most with one. If two equal paddlers had trained equally with different paddles for a few years and otherwise the conditions were the same, the difference between different types of paddles would probably have been super small.
Paddle safety - a line between the paddle and the kayak is common, some claim it is good, others that it is dangerous!! But that's how it is with most things; there are extremes in everything and the "truth" may lie somewhere in between. For many years I usually had a rubber cord between the paddle and the kayak, partly to be able to just let go of the paddle and e.g. photograph and partly the paddle works as a "drive anchor" if I have to get out of the kayak and don't have control of the paddle.
And of course it could certainly be life-threatening if I were to be tossed around in large waves and get the rope around my neck or get lashed around the kayak, but I'll just have to take that risk then.
Some people who are out on real long journeys and serious crossings sometimes also put a line between themselves and the kayak so they don't lose either the kayak or the paddle if they fall in. Nowadays I rarely have a line in the paddle but try to hold it or put the one under the deck lines if I'm going to have coffee, take photos or something else.
Read more about choosing a paddle at Björns Thomassons AIDS.
Read more about Greenland kayaks, Greenland paddles and everything else about traditional paddling technology at QajaqUsa.
Links to other paddle manufacturers and other things can be found below links.
Pia with home-carved paddle | Rolf from Karlstad with a divisible Greenland paddle from Feathercraft
Paddle A kind of large ladle, with which the kayaker tries to dig holes in the water. P. is also an excellent companion if the natives should prove aggressive. (from Orust Kayak's glossary for kayakers)
2013: Right now it's mostly Werner and Robson which sits in our hands 🙂
Paddles can be bought at most well-stocked kayak shops as well as online at the big kites like out north and Amazon.
