Single blade works well in Sea Lion.

I paddled a couple miles in my composite Aquaterra Sea Lion today using a 47.75" ZRE bent shaft canoe paddle and it felt pretty good. The paddle could probably be an inch or two shorter, but this length was quite tolerable.



I paddled the first mile using the rudder and the second mile without the rudder - both worked well. The Sea Lion actually responds pretty well to control strokes with the bent shaft canoe paddle and worked pretty well with hit & switch technique also.



I plan to take both the bent shaft canoe paddle and a kayak paddle on future outings in the Sea Lion. The single blade is much less affected by wind than the double blade - the winds were gusting up to 30mph today. I was a little slower with the single blade than the double blade, but it felt pretty good.



I tried the same bent shaft canoe paddle in my unruddered and unskegged Swift Caspian Sea (QCC400X) last week ( http://www.paddling.net/message/showThread.html?fid=advice&tid=858853 ) and it worked pretty well in that boat also, but the Sea Lion seemed to respond better to the single blade control strokes.



It’s interesting to note that I started paddling kayaks before canoes and initially used kayak paddles in the canoes until I learned better single blade skills and now I’m starting to use single blades in the kayaks. I think that I prefer using single blades in the kayaks better than using double blades in the canoes, but I still like using the double blades in the kayaks and still prefer single blades in the canoes.



If you’ve been toying with the idea of using a single blade canoe paddle in your kayak and you’ve got a short enough bent shaft canoe paddle, give it a try, you just might like it. I suspect that single blades would work less well in kayaks as they get wider than 25 or 26".



Happy paddling.

Preachin’ to the choir for this dude.
Fun side effect is it somehow winds people up when they see you doing this ‘wrong’ bladed … especially so if you pass them.



Sort of like riding the road bike on the trails.

and a single blade makes a great extra
paddle…easier to store too…



Have to admit that there is nothing quite as eyebrow raising as doing a J stroke with a GP. Works pretty nice and the Northwoods also works well with a GP.

Paddle
If a spatula works for you … Paddle on. Just Paddle. VF

Yer ready for hand paddles now dude.

kneeling postition in a Sea Lion?
crazy? maybe not! The Sea Lion is a very stable craft but I think if you try then stability will be out the window.

Maybe kneeling in Caspian Sea / 400X
It’s a much more roomy and stable kayak, but kneeling in it might be a stretch, too. I paddled it with the same bent shaft canoe paddle and with a 3" square boat flotation pad on the seat and it still felt pretty stable.



I’m not very comfortable kneeling anyway. My knees still hurt from kneeling in my royalex Wildfire on a trip two weeks ago.

Sea Lions like Mitchell Twigs

…and to whisper in Chuck’s ear : )