C1 with kayak paddle

[darreng]

I know that this is probably sacrilegious, but has anyone tried C1-ing with a double bladed paddle?

I've read about this guy luke hopkins trying it, has anyone else?

[Old Slalom Fan]

I heard Ron Lugbill (Jon's brother) experimented with using a double blade in C-1 slalom racing one year in the very early eighties.

Story was that the slalom rules were silent about the type of paddle the C-1 class had to use in those days.

Even with two blades, his times on the Feeder Canal were reportedly not competive with the other C-1 paddlers that worked out there, so the idea was dropped.

But paddling a C-1 is all about having fun (and being a bit different.)

So try out the kayak paddle. It might be just what floats your boat!

[whitewaterevans]

I actually made a single blade padle out of 1/2 of of a kayak paddle. It did not work very welll-too small and not symetrical.
Vann Evans

[Alden]

I dont know about you guys, but I cant roll a c-1 very well with a kayak paddle. I find it really hard.

[Larry Horne]

for me, the paddling technique is most of what c- boating is all about.

[Drew W.]

yeah, there's some freestyle boater who paddles that way, calls it "X-1"ing, I forget his name, but I now he's a DC-area boater, he's got a site somewhere but Ic an't remember the url

[unicorn]

I remember many years ago -- may have been my first time on the Ocoee -- seeing John Kennedy paddle the river in a K-1 using a C-blade, just for the heck of it. I can't imagine it being enjoyable: cross-bows must have been pretty awkward.

[msims]

alright, we've veered far enough for my post to be relevant. I remember seeing a couple of guys both in 16 ft royalex tripping canoes (ie non-whitewater genre) floating down the lower madawaska up here in ontario, and i believe one of them had a home-made k2 blade. I think there may have even been duct tape involved. (Glenn? Martin? remember?) The paddle was pretty long, i'd guess about 9-10 feet. Pretty silly! I wonder if they're on this boater board? I wonder what their sig looks like?

__

OK1 Rules!

Twice the canoe, Twice the blade: 4 times as many stupid looks

OK1 Dopey1 ( Take off on C1B1 )

--

[(O)C]

Don't know about playboating, but on expeditions on flatwater, especially against the wind, a kayak paddle can be a nice break.

Think about it- twice the stroke rate and you use different muscles on both sides of your body. Also, you can do all corrections with forward propulsion instead of wasting energy and reducing speed with J-strokes or stern prys. No single bladed boat could even dream about passing us and we weren't even working hard...

You can easily strap or duct tape your spare paddle to your regular single blade.

It is a lot of fun to convince a kayaker to switch (especially watching the butt-paddler trying to surf or roll), for the roll just grab the 2 blade at the end and do your C-1 roll....

However, single blading is definitely more fun...

[Nixon]

I've tried it, from time to time, the problem is that because the centre of gravity is much higher, when you reach out to do a stoke you go over. it doesn't realy workin an open either as you cant get enougth power out of the lesser angle.
In intonational freestyle competitions a C1 "must use a single bladed pappdle"

"Rule britania, britania rules the waves" woo, go england!