Kathy D'Errico wrote:
I have a 16 foot hybrid canoe that I can use solo or tandem. It
really takes a lot of work paddling solo and I was wondering if
a kayak paddle would work better for me? or what would better than
the traditional lightweight paddle?

Do you sit over to one side in the middle of the canoe and kneel on the
bottom?
That's the best position for solo empty canoe paddling. If teh canoe is
full of camping gear then you can sit or kneel behing the weight of the
gear. I don't even put seats in the boats I build fro myself. I carry a
cushion (an old life jacket0 to kneel on. It's painful at first until
the muscles and ligaments or whatever get stretched but eventually you
get used to it. You have to shift position every once and a while to
keep the circulation going in the lower legs so you can stand up at the
end of the day.

After you learn to balance well you can paddle with the gunwhale
touching the surface of the water. The canoe is actually qiute stable
at that degree of heel because of the weight of the hull out of the
water counteracting further heeling. It's not unlike riding a bicycle.
..

In general, I find that the single-blade canoe paddle works best even
for soloing with my 17 ft. Sawyer X-17.

The exception comes when I have to fight the wind. When I have to turn
this canoe into a brisk wind my double-blade paddle which I take along
when fishing is worth its weight in gold.

With my 16 ft. Wenonah Aurora which has some rocker and about a 15 ft.
waterline when paddled solo the canoe paddle seems better under nearly
all conditions because the boat is much more maneuverable.

Try both kiinds of paddles with your boat in a variety of conditions
and draw YOUR OWN conclusions. It's not the same for all boats or all
paddlers.

Dan


Kathy D'Errico wrote:
I have a 16 foot hybrid canoe that I can use solo or tandem. It
really takes a lot of work paddling solo and I was wondering if
a kayak paddle would work better for me? or what would better than
the traditional lightweight paddle?

Kathy D'Errico wrote in
rec.boats.paddle...

I have a 16 foot hybrid canoe that I can use solo or tandem. It
really takes a lot of work paddling solo and I was wondering if
a kayak paddle would work better for me? or what would better than
the traditional lightweight paddle?

I wouldn't get into my solo canoe, without one of each. If
you carry both, then you KNOW you've got the right one.