trailing blade face, Lendal

I hope trailing blade face is the right term.



I have a Werner Ikelos straight shaft paddle and I just bought a Lendel 4 piece touring paddle from a swap meet. I was paddling with the Lendal next to the local pro shop owner and he mentioned that the Lendal has a trailing blade face compared to the Werner.



Can anyone comment on this and the pros and cons.



I bought the Lendal as a second paddle but the Lendal feels comfortable enough to use instead of the Werner for touring.



Also the feather adjustment on the Lendal has a clearance holed drilled at 60 degrees for the pop out button. I like zero or 15 degree feather. Should I drill another clearance hole at the preferred feather angle?



Thanks.

I believe the trailing face comment…
is referring to the Lendal modified crankshaft which has the blade following the hand. The hand reaches the hip before the blade. Its a nice crankshaft and this design allows the blade to easily and instantly orient itself in the water upon the catch and during the stroke. Makes it easy to maintain a loose grip on the shaft.



I’ve drilled Lendal shafts before to achieve just what you’re after. Its best done using a drill press if you have access to one. A helper is handy if you don’t have the means to clamp the shaft tube securely. One person holds the tube while the other operates the press. Standard style bits work well and you don’t need a lot of speed for the task. I do it in two steps. Dress the edges of the new hole with a small dowel and some 400-600 grit wet/dry paper.

Hmmmm
I have a set of Lendal paddles, both straight shaft and bent shaft. My straight shaft for sea kayaking has both a 0 degree and 60 degree hole, which is typical for multi-piece paddles. But, anyway, drilling a hole for less feather is fine, although I wouldn’t drill two holes.

Yup, as said…
The blade is forward of the shaft when you paddle. So, it “trails” the shaft so to speak. Gives a nice solid feel in the water. I suppose, it depends not so much on the shaft but on the blade - I have the Kinetic blades and the “trailing” effect comes from the blade itself (so you would have it on a straight shaft too, not just on a bent shaft).



As for a second hole, I would think twice - the way the Lendal lock works is that as you tighten the little bolt, something expands inside creating pressure outwards. If you have too many holes you might potentially crack the paddle. On the other hand, you don’t need too much force to tighten, so it might not be an issue in practice…



If you do decide to drill, wrap in masking tape first to minimize the chances of scratches and chips from the drilling. A sharp regular drill bit should work. Or you could use a dremmel or rotozip as they will drill nicely, but with these it might be quite hard to get the hole where you want it.

Crank/ trailing blade
I used an AT with a similar design to the Lendal. I found that because the weight of the blades were in front of my hand the paddle wanted to rotate when holding it loosely. I didn’t like that as much as the more balanced Werner neutral bent design. Does the Lendal bent shaft take some getting used to?

Padle Rotating
That’s an interesting observation - the blades do indeed tend to want to rotate down when one holds the paddle horisontally. Might be a good thing when the paddle is just resting on my lap - makes it ready to low brace -;). Somewhat annoying and takes some minimal effort to counter otherwise.



However, two observations. First, that rotation is not at all an issue with high-angle paddling. Second, I feel it more than others probably due to the fact I paddle with 0 feather where both blades stick forward of the shaft. I have the same feeling with my wing paddle (though its blades are lighter than the Lendal’s).



In contrast, if you take a paddle like the Werner Cyprus or the Saltwood bent shafts - they are “neutral” and respond like a straight shaft with a bend for the wrist (e.g., no “crank” effect, just ergonomic wrist positioning).



Most shafts actually do not address the wrist ergonomics entirely though. The AT paddles try to some extend, but not as much as I’d like - the bends should be also downwards too (almost like when you are holding a steering wheel at the 10am-2pm position)… But that’s another topic entirely …

downward bend
Ahhh, like this?: www.gullwingpaddles.com



I’m sort of speechless on many levels with this thing. Yet strangely interested in trying one.

Something like this
Although not with the ridiculous arch in the middle (which makes no sense if one uses a high-angle paddling style but might be useful for very low angle - as long the paddler uses 0 feather, that is)…