Im 6’1" and use a 50.5 ZRE power surge. You’ll love the blade. It has the smoothest catch of any blade I’ve felt. Corrective strokes are slightly different with a bent shaft, but definitely possible.
If you decide its too long you can heat the glue joint, pull the grip off, cut it down in small sections, temporarily taping the grip on, then glue it once you find a length you like. 56 seems a tad long, but if it feels good to you thats all that matters
If this is your first carbon paddle youll see Once you go black you don’t go back. Lol
Kim the ZRE he ordered is 56", his old straight is 65". If Bob sized it, it will work, and it can always be trimmed.
Mike 931x, glad you got the Power Serge blade. the little curve at the tip of the blade makes the entry quiet and the plant solid. Gillespie pioneered it years ago on his wooden bent shaft paddles and it worked great. Don’t feel that you have to baby it, I have two ZRE outrigger Power Serge paddles that are better than 15 years old and have 15 90 Milers on them. i have been able to sand out all the nicks they have suffered in shallow rocky bottoms at race speed. And the blades can be replaced. Enjoy it. Your old paddles will feel like concrete 2x4s afterward.
Bent shaft paddles are more than a convenience. They are more efficient. The race where Gene Jensen introduced the bent shaft to the marathon canoe racing world, the best paddlers in the world were left in a tight pack hundreds of yards behind him. No one uses a straight shaft paddle now in a competition unless the rules disallow bent shafts. Even the stalwart wilderness tripper Cliff Jacobsen switched after decades of claiming only a straight paddle was suitable for wilderness travel. There will always be people paddling Old Town Trippers happily using long solid wood beavertails, but that is not where i would recommend anyone start.
I bought my first bent shaft canoe paddle from Don Meany back in {I think} 19 95 I love it XY Company History - XY Company: Hand-Crafted Paddles
He was fun to talk to. I wandered around his shop and kept picking up a McKenzie bent shaft…saying I didn’t need a bent shaft and wanted a straight shaft paddle…but it just felt so right. I bought it for 50 dollars American. {Nice paddle}
I think we are just going to disagree on this. Efficiency is finite. Maybe not in terms of scientific measurement, but as a practical matter it can only go so far for the average paddler. IMO, an expert paddler can be just as efficient with a straight as anyone with a bent. Gene Jensen had a habit of leaving other racers behind with either. When Cliff Jacobsen attended my Freestyle Symposium, La Louisiane, he used a straight because that was much better for FS. Racers use bents for racing. It may just be a matter of what kind of paddling one is engaged in. For example, when recreational paddling, I use a good many palm rolls and in water recoveries. So, a straight is more efficient for that style.
While true that beginners have a better time with a bent, the problem is, once started they never go to a straight. IMO, one will never fully understand the nuances of the solo forward stroke using only a bent.
Well it isnt tripper (the model is a Carelton), but that is exactly how I got started canoeing. Still have that monster our OT beavertail from the 70’s
Bob really emphasized the ability to sand or file out scratches and the overall durability, which surprised me. I was expecting to need to be gentle on it, which isn’t the case at all. I’m really looking forward to getting out on the water with it
I am not dissing the advice but the biomechanics of such a long paddle are astounding. Either it is for a voyageur canoe which seating is high or he is bringing his top hand way up by his forehead, Or the OP is very long torsoed!
I’ve marathon raced in voyageur canoes for many years. Even though I have a high bow seat, the longest bent I was ever comfortable using was a 52 inch which I thought I needed at first. More often I now use a 50 or 51 as a better fit. My grip hand is no higher than at my nose level during the power phase of the stroke. Middle seat paddlers behind me generally all use no longer than a 51 as the longest but they are all in seats that slide to place hip on the gunwale on each side switch hut for greatest efficiency with no need to reach far out into the water. A paddle too long encourages an inefficient wide sweeping stroke, not good. Our stern seat is just about at gunwale height. Stern paddlers sitting that high will use up to a 54 inch, to facilitate leverage for strong steering strokes.
If you mostly paddle rivers, I would stick with a straight shaft. On Lakes, either work, but I happened to find a bent that I like so use it BWCA etc. I also always carry a straight for in the rivers and as my spare. A straight straps into a canoe better {for a spare} A vertical blade , for efficient stroke can be maintained with either style paddle. {I do find that a bent shaft is not as good for twirling when switching sides}
This argument about which is better, a straight shaft paddle or a bent shaft paddle is rather silly IMO. It is like arguing whether a screwdriver is better than a hammer.
The solution is simple. Carry both. If you need to maneuver use the straight shaft. When you want to move along quickly and more or less straight, use the bent.
I will probably use the straight shaft paddle more often on rivers than the bent and maintain a dedicated paddling side. But on easy stretches I like to switch sides to balance out the stress on the torso, shoulders, and arms. A bent shaft paddle makes that much easier. Takes only a moment to change paddles.
I am a racer. I use what is best for the job. These days, a bent shaft is proven to do that job the best.
But I am not always in race mode. I also very much enjoy quietly recreating in my canoes in quiet wilderness waterways. Slow Adirondack rivers and rocky lake bays. For those conditions I prefer a well made straight shaft hand crafted paddle. I can do many more advanced strokes with my straight paddles than I can with my bents. Use the best tool for the job and reason you are out there. Sometimes I do a little of both on the same trip, and will carry one each of both types of paddle.
I see you are from Mass. There are some symposia that if you are interested in making a commitment to a weekend of instruction you might consider
Of course all were off in 2020
Maine Canoe Symposium ( instruction in many paddling and poling techniques and wilderness travel)
Pine Barrens Functional Freestyle ( using the twisty rivers of the Barrens in New Jersey). Paddling instruction in a fun tripping setting
Adirondack FreeStyle Symposium at Paul Smiths College in the Adirondacks in July.
What you should use is up to you. Some folks settle and other nuts like me have 43 paddles and 12 boats for a reason ( to us is a good reason). Canoeing is a journey in learning .
I forgot the Western PA Solo Canoe Rendezvous… Its over by Ohio but its a campout weekend with informal instruction and free. It is in June. A great way to play in others boats and with others paddles.
I’d love to do something like that at some point for sure. Not feeling like this will be the year, between the current vaccine timelines and a move that my wife and I are planning to NC. Lots to do.
The others are right that carbon paddles are quite strong, but they have their limits. 2 things to keep in mind are -
NEVER push or pry against the ground with it. Dont push off rocks. Dont push off sand. A log. dont try to use it like a wood paddle to push or pry at all. You’ll quickly break the blade or joint where it meets the shaft.
Be very careful in shallow water. If you have a strong catch which involves quickly submerging the blade, it is easy to break the paddle if you are in shallow water and dont realize it or hit an under water obstruction like a submerged rock or dead-head. Many paddles have been broken in riverraces paddling up stream. You follow the river bank to avoid the current, but are more likely to find dead heads, sand bars, and rocks. One strong hit on a rock and your paddles dunzo.
They do take light hits well though. You can indeed sand down many chips and just fill with some epoxy and thickener smeared into the divot. (i recommend repairing all chips at least a little because a chip is a micro crack where a larger crack can propagate from, so its best practice to half-ass fix all small chips)
And now you see why you dont go back to a wood paddle.
The Xtreme is ~10oz
I have a light which is 8.5oz and my favorite weight for a paddle
7oz Pro is crazy crazy light, but becomes somewhat fragile and is almost too light (but not)
