Not a metric person but I think of all paddles in CM 2.
Happy I don’t drag around slow with others. Kayak hermit now. Even my partner is out of commission from a dumbass hand doctor all season. Happy lawsuit Doc.
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I have six grandkids. Three of the granddaughters are interested in kayaking. The two thirteen year olds can manage about about 2.9 mph over 5 miles. The 10 yr old can manage about 2 mph, but she hit 4.7 mph spikes several times. I wanted to turn around, but she wanted to go to a point where she could look into a cove where she could see a restaraunt that we visit. The restaraunt allows boats to dock and a local kayak club stores club boats on the property. Our next trip to the restaraunt will be by kayak so she can tell them she paddled there.
She was tired on the way back and I said we probably should’ve turned around. She said, “Yeah, but then I wouldn’t know how far I can go.” I said, “True enough . . . that’s a fact!”
Don’t worry about illusions. She’ll remember who gave her the experience. My goal is to help them all paddle faster than me. My other 10 yr old granddaughter tried the used Tsunami SP that I bought last weekend. Compared to the other three granddaughters, she was like a wobbly newborn fawn, but she was all smiles. Looks like I need another kayak.
PaddleDog52, I’m starting to think the same way. I have no idea how long my paddles are in inches and I’m getting tired of converting sq inches to sq cm. So now I’m beginning to think in cm for paddles only.
I had given up organizing excersions with novice paddlers. I’d pack several boats and all the gear, only to have people paddle out 1/4 mile and sit. This summer has been an exciting season for me. The only partner who could hang with me was my sister. Now her son has taken up kayaking, and he’s progressing well. It’ll be good to have a strong partner for long trips. Just turned 70 this week.
Since my shoulder issue in May 2018, I resumed kayaking this June. The 1st trip averaged 1.9 mph, and I felt despondent. The 5th trip was 20 miles and it took 7 1/2 hours, but it showed I could handle distance. After 17 trips, I’m within .5 mph of where I want to be. I won’t reach my previous highs, but it’ll be close enough.
Going to make a slightly oversized GP this winter. That way, I can trim it down until it suits my style. Looking for some clear wood.
Used a 2x6 
for your GP
Good idea. Usually easier to get clear wood out of it.
I can easily get 2"x 4" WRC. Not sure about 6".
I plan to make the first one out of clear common wood to get a hang of the design. Once I play with it and whittled to a size that I like, I’ll get a nice piece of WRC. Is that the premium stuff of is white cedar or stitka spruce good?
I currently use a 640 cm (99 sq in) blade. Today I tried a Werner Little Dipper with a 548 cm (sq in) blade. It was only 210 cm long, but I was able to push it to within .2 mph of the 640 cm blade. The small blade made paddling effortlessly, but not enought bite. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’d like a blade in the 613 sq cm (95 sq in) range.
I’m a low rpm, high torque paddler, about your size. I use an Epic large wing, 845 square cm. Shaft is custom, adjustable from 235-245 cm. Anything smaller feels like I’m just spinning the wheels.
Rosborn45 and PaddleDog52, dang, those are big puppies. As noted, I’ve been using 643 sq cm blade with a 250 cm length. After lengthy discussions on several paddle threads, I’ve critically reviewed all of my paddling technique.
Similar to you guys, in my youth, I favored large blades and long shafts. Saturday, I compared my 250 cm and 240 cm Kallistes. I’m torn between less stress on my left shoulder joint with the 240 and the comfortable reach of the 250.
I’m committed to a low angle approach. Motion in the shoulder joint aggravates arthritis caused by the earlier infection. Even with two of the four left rotator cuff tendons detatched, low angle power output doesn’t seem to suffer, because I lock my arms in isometric tension and rotate from the waist. The only way to match the speed potential of a larger paddle is to increase cadence, but the cadence of Little Dipper has to be so high, it becomes frantic and jerky. The blade felt like it was grabbing at nothing; like being two gears too low on a bicycle - spinning but going nowhere. I intend to make a GP, but Saturday showed me there isn’t enough surface area on a traditional GP for me to get the boat up to speed.
Dropping a few square inches of blade area will reduce some of the leverage strain of the long shaft. For me, cadence above 70-75 strokes per minute becomes wasted motion because I start slapping the water. Someone paddling a more efficient boat than a Tsunami could probably keep the boat moving with a Kalliste. This is my baseline last week using the 250 cm. I recommend anyone with shoulder issues to give a low angle touring blade like the Kalliste a try, or see if they can find a blade under 640 sq cm.
Hi all,
Wow, discussion is going and going. I was off-line for several days.
Gaining stroke practice, and learning escimo roll, that is more difficult then i was expecting. Managed to do it once, but didn’t get how i managed to do it, muscles memory didn’t catch it, so more practice 
Back to the paddle size question. I noticed that wing paddles are more “low angle shape” paddles, but im high-angle paddlers, so not sure how it will work for me.
I don’t think wings are low angle paddles.
The ratio of the blade width to blade length is more like low angle, high angle paddle is more “square”. Or this math doesn’t work here ?
That’s my impression as well. I was tempted to buy a Cyprus. It’s foam core, 610 sq cm (94 sq in), but it’s high angle.
I paddle low or high with 205 & 215 Ikelos, 215 Shuna or 210 Corryvreckan. Kalliste 215 is useless to me. Paddling fast to go nowhere.
I recall your preference from previous paddle threads. You have the ability to handle the large blades which are an asset in big surf. Based on your comments, I believe I will get an Ikelos for sections of the bay where I encounter larger waves. I can see how you would feel the Kalliste doesn’t have enough bite with a 643 sq in blade compared to Ikelos 710 and the Corryvreckan 721 cm, but I’m curious about why you list the Shuna in your quiver, since its 615 sq cm blade is even smaller than the Kalliste. Does the high angle blade profile perform differently despite having a smaller blade than the Kalliste. When you say you paddle low or high with the three blades, that sounds like you prefer the square blade over the long narrow touring shape.
Got Shuna with a Solstice GT. Small but way better performance than a Kalliste in low or high mode to me. That’s why I’m fairly sure GP is not for me.
Interesting to hear that, because I want to try something around 615 sq cm, but was afraid the high angle might not grab the water as well in low angle. I though you mentioned the Cyprus at some point. It’s 1 sq inch smaller and wonder how it’s different than the Shuna.
They work fine for me grabbing the water. Blades in the water.