Hi I have been kayak surfing for 20 years mostly with a regular white
water river paddle...can I use this same paddle for touring, or are
touring paddles different, or can I get away with using my "non
touring" paddle ?

Thanks,

Jack

I find a long, relatively thin blade works best - it's 'smooth' in the
water, as opposed to my wife's wider, shorter blade, which seems to
'catch' in the water more often. If you're wanting to experiment,
you can easily make your own paddles - a 8' piece of 2x2 lumberyard spruce
(no knots), round it off with
a plane, then cut out your preferred blade 'scoop' with a jigsaw. Pick out
a blade shape you might like, trace it on to thin marine ply, cut those out.
To try out a blade, just screw the blades to the shaft temporarily (no
glue), go paddle, and decide if you like it. Use thickened
epoxy to attach the blades to the shaft, and epoxy resin to glass the
forward face of the blades. Takes an afternoon and maybe an
evening, costs about $20 CDN. If you are interested, e-mail me, and I'll
send along instructions. I've made three of 'em - slightly different styles,
but all are very light, tough paddles, warm to hold and easy on the
hands, with a little flex in 'em, which I like.
Doubt if I'll ever buy a paddle.

Rick Hayes
Upper Gullies, NL CA
REPLACE vk1nf with rhayes to reply




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Melissa wrote:

If it helps, just remember...one can never have too many boats or
paddles! :-)

grin

That is untill you run out of storage...

And yes, I know the problem. :-)

--
Wilko van den Bergh
Eindhoven The Netherlands Europe
Look at the possibilities, don't worry about the limitations.
http://wilko.webzone.ru/

wrote in message
...
On Tue, 30 Sep 2003 15:16:37 +0200, Wilko wrote:

Melissa wrote:

If it helps, just remember...one can never have too many boats or
paddles! :-)

grin

That is untill you run out of storage...

And yes, I know the problem. :-)

"You can't have everything. Where would you put it?"

Everywhere.

wrote:

On Tue, 30 Sep 2003 15:16:37 +0200, Wilko wrote:


Melissa wrote:

If it helps, just remember...one can never have too many boats or
paddles! :-)

grin

That is untill you run out of storage...

And yes, I know the problem. :-)


"You can't have everything. Where would you put it?"

Ehm, if I have everything, then I would also have all the storage space
available. Since everything already fits nicely in the available space,
that wouldn't be a problem! ;-)

--
Wilko van den Bergh
Eindhoven The Netherlands Europe
Look at the possibilities, don't worry about the limitations.
http://wilko.webzone.ru/