always carry a spare
Same story as a spare tire in your car. You can go through your whole life without a flat but when you NEED it; worth it’s weight in gold. I use the North Water Paddle Britches and they work very well on the front deck. I too keep the rear deck free for rescue and also don’t like anything over the rear hatch cover that will possible distort it over time. My spare is a 210 Bending Branches wood paddle that I use to gear down as other posters have mentioned.
Always
I paddle with a Zav, but like a kayak paddle strapped to the front deck, and depending on where I am going, sometimes an extra Zav. (kayak paddle is nice for rough water. can brace either side easier)
Variety
I’ve been bringing a GP and my Werner Ikelos along lately. Which one gets a ride under the rear bungies depends on what I’m up to at the moment. Lately the Werner has seen more deck time since I’m trying to sharpen my Greenland skills. Neither is a spare but it’s nice to know I always have a back up.
so far they are a hit
They work better than any other method I have tried (under the bungee variations and PVC pipe variations).
With every other method I tried I was actively looking for a better way to store my spare paddle. Now I can turn my attention to other bits of gear since this meets all of my requirements. I am not going to say it is the BEST method, just better than ALL of the other things I have tried, and I have tried a lot.
It’s like jumper cables or a spare tire
Always carry a spare paddle and first aid for you as well as the boat. “That’s why they call it an accident”
even I have a spare
I keep an old plastic, heavy as all get out, beater paddle broke down and wedged in my Otter. My kayak is not for serious outings, but even I have a spare with me.
Oh yea, the GOOD paddle is a Bending Braches…nothing too expensive, just good all around fun.
Liveoutside
For whitewater, I never have. For
touring kayaks, I can’t say. Over 35 years of paddling, I can only remember a three instances where I have lost or broken a paddle. With kayaks, getting to a spare paddle is not necessarily easy.
The reason for 4 piece paddle
My current main back-up paddle for ww is a 4 piece.
Unlike in a sea kayak you are not going to get to your spare while in the boat. However, I have seen paddlers loose their paddles in ww and a spare is required.
I carry
a second paddle under my rear bungees, I choose this location primarly because I do not want anything heavy or possibly damaging to myself on the front deck where a large wave can send it in the direction of my face. People may say that you will snag a tow line or get in the way during a rescue but in several years of teaching I have never had that happen. In fact I had a bigger problem with them on the foredeck with people grabbing them during an assisted rescue and pulling them out from under the bungees or even snapping bungee cords.
yes this really is a problem
yes, the front deck has its problems too. Especially folks grabbing the paddles during rescue and recoveries.
I still believe the front deck has the most advantages, however, if and only if
the paddles are secured by something like the Northwater paddle bib for the shafts which make reinsertion easy also and the blades by a quick reliease wide strap NOT bungees.
And the perimeter lines are held up and separate from the deck by virture of small pieces of tubing by each attachment place or small plastic balls. This allows for better assisted recoveries, the paddler can easily be told to grab there NOT the paddles.
But there is definitely room for NO ACCOUNTING FOR INDIVIDUAL taste here.
methods of attaching them on deck
while the bungee cords will keep paddles secure (relatively) the the deck, I don’t know how would you go about repositioning the paddle under the bungee without assistance while on a paddle.
There are a couple of methods for an easy stowing and retrieving of paddles on the foredeck: http://gnarlydognews.blogspot.com/2009/03/shop-sea-kayak-paddle-park.html
thanks gnarlydog and tideplay
I’ve been looking for paddle cradles for the front deck… keeping them under the bungee is secure but the paddles blades scratch up the deck (I put some tape over the blade tips for now) and having some place to stow the handle would be useful for switching blades. I’ve seen people use ropes with a GP but that would be too loose for a Euro.
paddle britches
– Last Updated: May-24-09 9:30 AM EST –
these work well, very secure, openings for paddle shaft stay easy to resecure paddle shafts. Simply use a quick release strap for blades.
They don't stretch so waves don't move the paddles nor surf, but much faster to release and resecure
I love gnarlydogs products. I made a less super model like his as well out of minicell foam with reinforced inserts. They have the advantage of being soft so if you ram someone they do not protrude.
http://www.northwater.com/html/products/sea_kayak/SKsubdirectory/PaddleBritches.html
Group? What group?
What’s group got to do with it?
Whether in a group or not I paddle solo w. my own spare.
My third paddle is a CF GP
I carry three paddles a lot (and tend to use them all). I’ve taken more, but when I’ve done that I’ve come back with fewer…
I went with
the pvc, about 6’’ long, drilled a hole for a rope tie, stuffed some mini cell in the back, and had an extra Thule strap to hold the blades in place… under the blades a small matted mesh bag…
already had about 3’ of pvc, and some rope…
not sure if I’ll paint them… very happy, this is going to work!!
Pipe Sections
Celia, can you please expand on the pipe sections? What is the material and how they are threaded onto the bungies. Thanks!
Pad under the bungies
I solved the paddle stowage challenge by cutting a thin yoga pad and placing it under the bungies. Then I sit the paddle betwen the pad and the bungies. Works great.
1/2 paddle sweep roll
WW canoeists do it all the time
GP paddle term?
I see the acronym GP used to describe a paddle in the replies. What eaxactly is a GP ? Is is a brand of paddle or a general purpose paddle ?