Hey Emily
Ironically, yesterday morning I did a “Review” on Zaveral paddles. Here’s the link. And BTW, that’s the FIRST “10” I’ve ever given! WW
http://www.paddling.net/Reviews/showReviews.html?prod=1089
bent shafts
Emily,
Welcome to the world of bentshafts & solo paddling. It was about 20-25 years ago Ted Bell told me to go bent shaft. He said that anything you can do witha straight, you can do with a bent. I said that precise control needs a straight.
Now all these years later I paddle mainly solo, but some tandem…and all of it with a bent. Over 90% of all of our paddling is done in a relatively safe environment, so I paddle with a loose grip most of the time and will do whatever needs to be done to get the boat moved. That means if I am just lilly dipping on a lake, I’ll roll my pladdle over and will use the non-power face to finish my j-stroke. Though I have found the Canadian stroke is a much better stroke for me , and a bent does that stroke very easily. Low braces are much easier for me w/ a bent also.
As for kneeling or sitting: try both and find what works for you. Kneeling gives you a lower center of gravity, a more powerful stroke, and better flexibilty in your lower back. But don’t dispair of you have troubles kneeling. I can’t kneel, so I sit and still paddle II’s & III’s. So, find what works for you! Sorry to ramble…have fun. Oh, Ted Bell was right.
Just practice
It’s just a matter of getting used to it. No real tricks involved.
must be tricks
– Last Updated: Feb-02-05 6:06 PM EST –
Dave, Paddling class III whitewater with a bent-shaft paddle and sitting up on seat? There must be at least some tricks involved.
p.
Looks like I missed something
Dang, I’ve got to learn to read those posts a bit closer. I paddle flatwater. I read right past Emily’s second post where she mentioned using it in whitewater.
I think it was DaveT that mentioned paddling II and III seated. The closest I’ve ever been to II and III is walking along the river.
low brace with bent shaft??
is easier? the blade would be angled sharply into the water providing little brace affect.
i remain sceptical- i wish i could paddle with some of you to see good style in action in action. whenever i see bents being used it is almost exclusively novices with poor technique or American fishermen in Quetico with rentals and no technique.
for versatility in all the strokes and style i prefer, i think i will always be a straight shafter. not to mention i have a lifetime to get the use out of my 7 current blades…
sitting in whitewater
I learned to paddle whitewater in an 18 1/2 for Whitewater Cruiser by Wabash Valley Canoes. It had tractor seats and footbraces. All my canoes have footbraces.
low brace
power face of a bent shaft flat on the water will have the shaft 15 degrees (or the amount of the bend)upward toward you. Really comfortable as a running brace in wave trains.
Bentshaft and Hand Position
This will most likely make no sense unless you see in person but I’ll give it a try with words. I’ve been using this “hand position” for about 5 yrs now and it works for me, in flatwater as well as WW, although I’m still working on this. Take it for what you will.
Ok, grip the paddle on the shaft where you normally do, then on the grip at the top you want to grip it with the back of your hand looking you in the face with your thumb pointed down. This will feel unnatural at first but with practice it will become a natural feel. As you finish your paddle stroke your grip hand, the one with the back of your hand facing you, will roll over the top of the grip to help finish the stroke.
I’ve been using this method for a while now and have switched from using a straight blade in WW to a bentshaft excusivily(sp?) and have had a lot of luck with it enough so that I have no fondness for a straight blade again.
Good luck and I hope this makes some sense.
dougd
Emily, with the boats you have,
– Last Updated: Feb-02-05 9:44 PM EST –
I recommend nothing more than a 5 degree bend. I say this especially if you use it in whitewater. Notwithstanding some of the interesting low brace advice you received in previous posts, in whitewater you are going to have to use the non-power face for quick low braces. Even if you learn to juggle to use the power face, you are just developing a bad habit which you will have to lose when you get into serious whitewater.
Nobody in whitewater slalom is using a bent shaft. Some are using crank shafts which increase reach, but the angle of the blade stays parallel to the angle of the shaft.
dougd does it like me, me thinks
i don’t know if I would even call it a j stroke. During the power stroke, when the blade is almost right next to me, I do a “wrist curl” (sharply bending both wrists in) while finishing my stroke. Other than the “wrist curl” I don’t do anything differently. The blade makes a “popping” noise when it exits the water. Like others here, though, I am only really good at it on one side.
bentshaft/soloing
I am a relatively new paddler - about a year’s experience, but I am out in the boat almost every weekend and some evenings in the summer. Mostly I have paddled solo starting with a compromise tandem/solo (Clipper Tripper S) and moving on to first a Wenonah Vagabond and now to a recently acquired used Wnnh Voyager. With the latter racey vessel came a Zavarel carbon bentshaft. Oh, my, what a cocktail stirrer! The combination of the long fast boat and this paddle has made me into a ‘hit and switch’ (or is it sit and switch?) speed demon. However, when I come to my senses and relax it works equally well single sided, corrective strokes. Someone, or maybe a couple of the respondents, describe the sort of slicing, variable pitch, end of stroke that I have evolved experimenting on my own. It works with the Grey Owl wooden bentshaft paddles too but even better with the thin blade of the carbon cleaver. I guess it is necessary to specify that I am talking flat water here, lakes and the Strait of Georgia in British Columbia.
Zav Paddling
I’ve been using the full bent shaft Zav paddle for years soloing my Prospector and love it! A couple notes:
- Get a shorter stick with the bent shaft.
- Play & practice. It will soon pay off in confidence.
- Keep the shaft vertical when paddling.
- Get the paddle bag. It’s way cool.
There are different ways to running IIIs
Downriver open boat racers have been running the Nantahala’s Lesser Wesser with bent shafts for decades. That’s not what I mean by running class 3 rapids. Running class I, II, and III means picking them apart. It means hitting the major eddies, and ferrying, and doing dynamic peel-outs, and side-surfing across the base of Lesser Wesser. This kind of action is not done in downriver hulls, and it is not done with 12 degree ZRE bentshaft paddles.
Class III can be quite technical. On the middle Tellico, for example, downriver Wabash hulls will be helpless, and bent shaft paddles will be treacherous. ZRE makes a real nice straight shaft slalom paddle for the middle Tellico and beyond.
Yes!
mjmcgrory,
Glad to hear someone knows what the hell I’m talking about. It’s hard to describe in words what works well on the water.
I to have a favorite side, my right side, although when I pole it is always on my left, go figure!?
For the record I use a Mitchell double bentshaft at 50" but I’m only 5’9" and shrinking as we speak!
Thanks for the input
dougd
shaft length
You mention being 5’9" and using a 50" bent shaft paddle. The Zav that came with my Voyager always felt a little long. So I went out to the garage and measured it. Sure enough, it is 52". And I am just under 5’10". In my lower-seated Vagabond I use a Grey Owl bent of only 48". It feels too short used in the Voyager but I would sure like to try a 50" Can a Zaveral be cut down?
from your description
and the follow-up post, it sounds like you folks are doing what is called a pitch stroke. I prefer it over the J and C because it eliminates the need for a correction at the end of the stroke.
shortening a Zaveral
Yes, a Zaveral can be shortened. Here’s a link to the instructions on their website:
http://www.zre.com/gearcare/paddlesport/howtoshortenpaddle.html
decision time…
Thanks again for all of your input. It was very helpful in this expensive decision.
I e-mailed ZRE, with my measurements, and, it looks like I’m going to go with the Whitewater model, standard 12-degree bent-shaft, factory second!
Now, if there were only some open water around here…well, soon enough!
Emily
Have Fun
with it!