Shaft stiffness & Puntledge Festival

yarnellboat · Post by **yarnellboat** » Wed May 31, 2006 6:31 am

I've seen lots of talking about shortening your paddle length when moving into a C-1 from an OC. Makes perfect sense.

Is there a standard preference with shaft flex between C-1 and OC? For example, do people tend to prefer a stiffer paddle for C-1?

P.

Scott C · Post by **Scott C** » Wed May 31, 2006 3:38 pm

I find it has less to do with the boat and more to do this the river/creek and the boater. I and a reasonably big guy and find I need a stiffer blade to compensate but on the other hand it flex is easier on the body (especially when you hook a rock). I guess it all comes down to personal preference between comfort and performance.

ezwater · Post by **ezwater** » Wed May 31, 2006 9:56 pm

My favorite C-1 paddle is only 1/2 inch shorter than my OC-1 paddle. My C-1 paddling style is more slalom-ish and that requires a relatively longer paddle even though the seat is much lower. Remember that Lugbill and Hearn probably never raced with paddles shorter than 58". If the paddle is light and low mass, it is still easy to move around quickly, and the extra leverage is so nice!

Jim Michaud · Post by **Jim Michaud** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 3:42 am

I use a 58" paddle for my C-1s & C-2s. A 60" for my Outrages and a 62" for my Captions & Vertige-X.

I use the same stifness paddle for all of my boats.

the great gonzo · Post by **the great gonzo** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 12:57 pm

I use the same stiffness paddles in C1 and OC1, but, depending on saddle height, different length.

martin a.k.a. the great gonzo!

Jan_dettmer · Post by **Jan_dettmer** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 10:14 pm

Pat, as long as it does not break and your joints are OK I would not worry about it.

Personally I like stiff paddled for all but long touring. (and even then I often paddle a zre bent-shaft)
I'd rather just get the best paddle in terms of shape and length. All my paddles are pretty similar in terms of stiffness. (Echo Creek Stick and C1, Zen C-1, Gala Magnum, Robson C1 Rodeo)

Cheers, Jan

yarnellboat · Post by **yarnellboat** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 12:10 am

Just asking because the shorter paddles we have that are a length that I like for C-1 happen to be cheap Werner rec paddles that seem very soft flexing.

I guess I was hoping that people would say "for C-1ing you definitely want a paddle that's less stiff because of x,y and z."

Anyway, they seem to work and are a comfortable length, so I'll just keep using them for now rather than buying something else or cutting something down.

Heck, I can just barely sit in the boat, so what paddle I'm using is the least of my worries.

P.

Jan_dettmer · Post by **Jan_dettmer** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 5:30 pm

Pat, are you coming out to the Puntledge tomorrow?
I will be there. Let me know and we go for a paddle together. I will be in a white corolla and prob paddling a green Nomad or a red Diesel 65.

The area has something for every level...

Cheers, Jan

yarnellboat · Post by **yarnellboat** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 7:36 pm

See you there Jan, I also had a call from Nam who will be going with his C-1.

I can't sit in my C-1 for very long, I'm not ready to paddle it hard.

I'm going to the Puntledge with a couple of OC-1ers, and we're hoping that you people are true to the word that there's something for every skill level!

I wish there were more info & events geared to canoes, like a playboating or rolling clinic to lure people there. Or advertising that Esquif's demo boats will be there... or canoes as door prizes, now we're talking!

See ya, P.

Jan_dettmer · Post by **Jan_dettmer** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 8:56 pm

THat's awesome that you are coming.
Shayne will have a bunch of Esquif boats.

If you are interested we can get together at the campground for a rolling session.
Or we do that on the play run.

I will hopefully give a slideshow about our Moyeha Trip a couple weeks ago (the long weekend). Since I am travelling for school right now, I will only get there on Sat afternoon. Hopefully early enough to catch some water on the upper run...

Cheers, Jan

yarnellboat · Post by **yarnellboat** » Tue Jun 06, 2006 6:57 am

Jan,

I wish I'd seen your message before I saw you on Sat. night - I woulda pestered you for that roll clinic!

We were 3 OC-1ers from Vanc and we all need to work on rolling, among other things. We were griping that there were no clinics or anything for canoes (at least they fit our boats on a shuttle though!).

Any kind of clinic or event for canoers on the festival's agenda would have been a good thing! We were disappointed that there weren't more canoes there from the island.

Our group (w/ Wayne and others, maybe 6 or 7 canoes) took out Shayne's/Esquif's Zephyr, Zoom and Vertige X. But too bad they hadn't advertised that they'd be there, announced it at the festival, or taken the boats to water somewhere - lots of kayakers came by to see our boats and expressed interest, but they didn't know there were demos, and couldn't be bothered to go back to the river.

All in all it was fun to paddle a new river. We were intimidated by the descrpition of it being a 3+ run for advanced intermediates (kayakers) with a solid roll, but all the big stuff was pretty easy to stay clear of. We were glad to have had Wayne to follow down from the Powerline through River-wide etc. It was much bigger flow than we usually paddle (didn't have much luck catching many waves and was way too scared to go into any holes), but it was good to support the festival and meet some new folks.

P.

Jan_dettmer · Post by **Jan_dettmer** » Tue Jun 06, 2006 10:36 pm

Pat, sorry for not getting together with you on Sun.
First I spend the whole morning getting a tree out of the upper section and then
I sub-luxed my shoulder (again!) on Nymph Falls. I really should not have paddled steep whitewater with 3500 cfs yet

Anyways, whenever i see you again paddling, we'll do a session together.

Cheers, Jan

ezwater · Post by **ezwater** » Tue Jun 06, 2006 10:49 pm

Lay off the Viagra, you turkey! And if you switch to a little weenie paddle for your c-1, we are only going to laugh at you.