Paddles

Photo's and info supplied by Rob Macks Laughing Loon

Item Name: Paddle Plans Only
Item Number: PPOPlans
Price: $20.00

Paddles, An Aleut Style narrow blade unfeathered paddle and two sport kayak paddles wide or narrow, feathered or unfeathered.

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Photo's and info supplied by Nick Schade of Guillemot Kayaks

Full size plans and patterns for a wooden feathered sea kayak paddle.

Item Name: Paddle Plans
Item Number: PPLans
Price: £7.00

Making your own paddle is a fun way to upgrade your equipment. It is a fairly quick project. You should be able to make one in a couple weekends. The paddle I make does require a bandsaw, but the technique I describe can be adapted to hand tools.

The plans show how to create the feather angle. While I like a fairly large blade, changing the size and length is easy. Six different paddle blade sizes are drawn out full-sized on the plans. The instructions in my book describe the basic method for making any laminated paddle and includes time saving methods.

Greenland Paddles Recorded by Gail Ferris good info on Greenland paddles, worth a look.

How long should my paddle be.

Overall Length:
Paddle overall length is traditionally measured by one of two methods:

One way is to stand flat-footed, and reach up as far as possible with one hand. You should be able to curl your fingertips over the paddle tip.

The other is to use an arm span plus a cubit. A cubit is the distance from the inside of your elbow to your fingertips.

Whichever method yields the longer measurement is better for your first paddle. Subsequent paddles can be adjusted to personal taste from there. Paddles shorter than about 85" will tend to be used with a sliding stroke.

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