Single bladed paddle
will help you develop a stronger sense of body control for your boat, better paddle skills for tracking and turning and will promote a better paddling form than an overly long double bladed paddle. The Greenland paddle suggestions are good, but your boat is more canoe like and you might be better off with a single blade in your particular boat.
My remark about close mindedness was intended as a suggestion, not an insult.
shipping
any used paddle will cost You most of your $20 to $30 budget to ship
look local and try to walk of ride a bike there(no gas involved)or make one.
I still have a couple of old flat blade carlisle paddles around here. But to get them to You it would all go into shipping cost.
Could re-think the value a paddle represents to you and change your budget some into line with what you actually can get.
Best Wishes
Roy
You are right
It may well set you back…
unless you are the sort obsessed with using a canoe paddle in a kayak
Frank is promoting marriage between kayaks and canoes in NC, not the people, the boats.
Assuming one already has the tools
I did not own planes and spokeshaves and drawknives and such (quite a bit of such actually) before getting into GPs and SOF.
Can alter the math - considerably (and that’s without you don’t counting your time).
Then there’s the issue of someone’s inclination/desire/time/patience to lean this new skill set (easy and fun for many, not so much for others).
Then there’s an even more improtant consideration: Is a GP really the best choice for ue with a kayak that wide? Sure one would work OK (How’s that go? Anything works on a pond?), but nothing’s right for everything.
Walmart - $22
Not a good paddle, but will get you started. The main problem is the cheap way the two halfs join together and it is not the lightest out there.
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=4925903
or see 'em all
http://www.walmart.com/search/search-ng.do?search_constraint=0&ic=48_0&search_query=kayak+paddle
I had one of the SeaSense paddles (better shape than the one shown currently on their web site) that I wanted to use as a cheap spare. I sold it almost immediately - you should really look for something better on the used market and not waste your money on paddles like these.
Save yourself some heartache
I have to agree with Kocho – I cringe whenever I see folks post about seeking “cheap paddles.”
While I feel your budgetary pain (been there) I have also encountered too many beginning paddlers who were frustrated and even completely turned off to the whole experience of kayaking due to using cheap, crappy paddles, particularly the usual rental livery aluminum and hard plastic boat anchors. My opinion has become that you are better off with a crappy boat and a good paddle than a good boat and a crappy paddle. After all, the paddle is your power source for the activity and is the direct connection for most of your effort. A stiff, unresponsive, too short and/or heavy paddle is a miserable thing.
Whenever I join a group outing where there are likely to be beginners with rental boats, I always bring all of my paddles (I have 5) to lend to the renters. I let them use the rental paddles for a little while and then offer them a good one. The “eureka!” reactions are universal. I’m not talking high-end carbon fiber wing blades, just “package grade” glass and plastic Werners, an odd-named Werner knockoff I got for $60 (half-price from an on-line outfitter’s sale) and a home-made GP.
Just this past August I was in a group that included a young couple – it was her first kayak outing and within less than 1/2 a mile she was complaining about how much she hated it and begging her boyfriend to turn around and go back to the dock with her. I offered her a paddle (a 240 Werner Sultan) and stashed her rental paddle on my deck (not before noticing that the thing weighed about 6 pounds, was about a foot too short for the wide boat she was it and felt like a shovel in my hands.) Within a few strokes with the good paddle, her face brightened and she took off – even though her boat was the usual plastic bathtub you are apt to find at small lakeside concessions. She pulled ahead of the group, eventually coming back to circle around us and alternately sprinting, cruising and copying our sculling for the rest of the outing. By the end of the trip, she was bubbling about how much she loved kayaking and would have to get her own boat.
Friends don’t let friends buy junk paddles! (Maybe we should start some sort of charity to financially assist budget-challenged kayakers so they don’t have to suffer.)
I’ll keep my eye out for deals and post any I find on here.
I appreciate it!
– Last Updated: Nov-02-09 5:45 PM EST –
I get what a lot of you are saying I really do. I realize how important a good paddle is, but without going into details, even $20 is painful for us right now. Another 4 months or so and things will be fine and I will get the paddle that fits me and my paddling style perfectly. The reason we are cash strapped is a worthwhile one and far more important than my latest obsession.
I have only been out 5 times so far, but I am hooked. I wouldn't even be able to paddle at all if it was not for the kindness of a friend, but there is no chance a bad paddle is going to turn me off from kayaking. I did 5 or so miles yesterday with a cheap plastic paddle that came with our inflatable Sevylor, and I was not uncomfortable in the least, but I did end up stressing the paddle very badly to the point I think it is going to break if I use it again. I am 6 foot tall, 230lbs, paddling a 28 inch wide yak.....
I really have two choices right now. Buy a cheap paddle for the amount I have scraped together, or miss the last 5 weeks of paddling altogether.
So again, I get what people are saying about buying a cheap paddle and I am going to try my hand at making one(just not right now), but I just want something cheap that will allow me to continue to kayak for the next 5 weeks(weather permitting).
I really do appreciate all of the advice, I am listening and taking it to heart.
Did you inquire about this one?
– Last Updated: Nov-02-09 10:03 PM EST –
http://ithaca.craigslist.org/spo/1422187732.html
I am not sure I believe the posted length, as 125cm seems REALLY short for a kayak paddle, but if it's truly that short, then I guess it shouldn't be considered.
I am with others to save up JUST a little more and buy something for around $50. I looked on Altrec and you can get a simple but nice NRS PTK:
http://www.altrec.com/nrs/ptk-kayak-paddle
Here’s the eBay ones mentioned above:
Seller was mentioned as “Leisure Sports”
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=370274066932
But for $38 incl. shipping, I might suggest really considering the NRS PTK for a teensy bit more…