I got a cheap pelican kayak at a garage sale, I know they aren’t too great, but it was $100 for the kayak and paddle and I figured it would be a good entry point. I took it out yesterday and the first glaring problem I had is that every drop of water off that paddle ended up in my lap. The water came from the edge of the paddle and from inside the handle. I have plugged the handles up with expand-a-foam and added some larger rings to the end of the paddle and will try that out today, but short of a spray skirt, is there anything I should be doing different or changing? I want to learn this, but it is mighty uncomfy at this point.
Feather the paddle - that will help some
At least it does for me.
Feathering is when you rotate one blade of the paddle so that it is at a different angle to the other blade.
Most two piece paddles have at least one option to change angles. The majority have three options - left, right or neutral.
Nope
Kayaking is a water sport. Water get’s in the boat when you only have a few inches of freeboard. It leads to wet hands and wet gear. A spray skirt is the solution to your problem and some lessons.
it’s not the boat
My paddle is $400, and my boat would have been $3500 if new, and yet I too get a lap full of water when I paddle, so the problem is not cheap equipment. 
My solution is wear a skirt, and dress to get wet.
Regarding the advice to feather the paddle, I’m not sure that would work, and if it does work, it introduces some potential for injury. Unless someone is really stuck on paddling feathered, I never suggest a beginner feather their paddle. Too many problems down the road.
Drip Rings actually work
– Last Updated: Oct-30-11 11:29 AM EST –
Properly positioning drip rings on paddle helps a lot
They come in a variety of styles and manufacturers.
http://www.palmequipmenteurope.com/gear/info_180.html
http://www.nrsweb.com/shop/product.asp?pfid=1595
http://www.thebmostore.com/rubber-drip-rings.html
http://www.duckworksbbs.com/hardware/misc/saw-drsb/index.htm
???
I’ve been teaching open water paddling for nearly 20 years, and I always start first timers with feathered paddles. Better to build the feathered wrist cock into their technique the first time.
My speculation on the OP’s issue has to do with improper paddling technique more than equipment. I’d imagine that, as with many non-schooled first timers, they are working with a high angle stroke, which brings the paddle blade high in the air close to or directly over the cockpit, rather than leaving it outboard, which is where the blades naturally fall in a low-angle stoke.
If there are already drip rings on the paddles, and they’re slid down close to the blade (where they should be), try modifying your stroke so that you’re sweeping over the side of the boat rather than trying to paddle vertically, as on a canoe. Keep your wrists lower than your shoulders, and rotate the torso during the stroke. If you’re seeing that the paddle blades are high in the air, over the cockpit, then you’re using too high an angle (or you have much too short a paddle).
Hold off for now
– Last Updated: Oct-30-11 12:38 PM EST –
For that money, I am guessing that you have a rec boat with a likely a huuuge cockpit. Drip rings can help for smaller cockpits, depending on your stroke, but once the cockpit opening is half of the boat's surface they are awfully challenged.
I wouldn't worry much about that now though, especially if you just started getting on the water now in late October. Skirts for those really big cockpits can get quite pricey. And your more pressing problem is clothing for immersion unless you plan on hanging that paddle up by Thanksgiving or sooner, depending on where you live.
Not to diss rec boats - they have their place. But I would suggest that with winter coming, if you are really interested in learning to kayak you should hunt up some pool sessions on basic skills over the winter. Spend your bucks there, then see in the spring how much you want to throw at equipping this boat.
high angle stroke is poor technique??
btw, there are half skirts that may be appropriate in situations where one is around warm water with no chance of waves.
it is…
– Last Updated: Oct-30-11 1:04 PM EST –
..in a recreational kayak, paddling calm water, yes. In that situation, a low-angle approach will be more efficient and more in tune with the boat design and water conditions.
(A wider boat means that a high-angle stroke will cause the paddler to distend the upper body off to one side in order to reach the water; doing so will necessarily position the non-working paddle blade closer to the cockpit opening - which is why I'd wager that the angle has something to do with the amount of paddle drip being taken on).
“wrist cock” not a good thing
I think in general kayak instruction has moved away from advocating a “control hand” and cocking the wrist to feather the blades. The wrist is a vulnerable joint, and all instruction I’ve gotten (and given) is to perform strokes with a neutral wrist (hand in-line with forearm) to avoid injury.
my understanding also
I know people who feather so that they don’t HAVE to cock their wrists - but these are wing paddle users with high angle strokes.
Heh
I go with so many people who have never been before, and they always complain about getting water in the boat etc. I usually try to get people paddle closer to the boat with the part of the paddle thats in the water, and farther from the boat with the paddle thats out of water. Also drip rings tend to work best for me about 6 inches from the end of the paddle.
I would note that as you get your technique down youll likely find you dont drop on yourself much anymore
Its a get wet sport, if you aint gettng
wet, you aint learning
and moderate feather angle
Yes, paddlers with really extreme torso rotation and vertical-angle stroke may need to add some feather angle to keep wrists straight, but that’s usually a lot less than 60-degrees, and that kind of stroke just isn’t possible in a 30" wide boat.
More info
The paddle is 84" - I got back out and worked on it some more, I stayed drier, but my knuckles got banged on the edge of the cockpit a good bit. The kayak is a pelican pursuit 100. I think I need a bigger paddle, maybe 89"?
not if they’re not death-gripping
– Last Updated: Oct-30-11 5:20 PM EST –
If you have a relaxed hand, with the three outside fingers of the working hand in a more or less neutral position, in contact with the shaft but not wrapped tightly around the shaft, the very slight movement needed to adjust the feathering of the blades is not stressful to the wrist.
Knuckle bang is bad,owie !!!
Spray skirt might not work
I’ve seen some Pelican boats that don’t have much of a “lip” on the cockpit rim, so they don’t grip the spray skirt. My advice is to dress to get wet and not worry about it. Enjoy your Pelican and use it to see how much you really like kayaking and see what boat you might eventually want to upgrade to.
84" is 213 cm
It depends somewhat on your upper body height, but I would say the 84" paddle is WAY too short for a boat as wide as the Pelican 100 (31" beam). I use an 84" Greenland paddle with 21" wide kayaks – for my wider (24") boats I use a 230 cm (90"). No wonder you are banging your knuckles.
Nevertheless, no matter what length you are going to get water in your lap. The Eskimo wrap cotton rags around the paddle shaft to cut back on drip but even that won’t prevent all. A sprayskirt is really the best solution – look for a cheap one on Ebay (measure your cockpit, front to back and side to side). I see a lot of skirts for oversized rec boat cockpits on Ebay lately.
Feathering helps, but doesn’t eliminate
dripping into the cockpit or onto the skirt.
This summer I’d noticed that I was getting more water in the cockpit (or on the water skirt) than in previous seasons (Epic Relaxed Tour). A couple weeks ago a pondered why this was and I recalled that I had switched to unfeathered blades to reduce wrist aching, which helped with the wrist. I switched back to 45 degrees feather and the drip was greatly reduced. YMMV.