The Right Paddle for Whitewater

NOTE TO SELF:
Never say “GP” and “whitewater” in the same paragraph. Folks get riled.



How about if I call this paddle design a “knife blade”. Mucho machismo. No fork or spoon allowed. Here’s what I’m getting at: I would hate to think that our whitewater brother who drowned would have lived had he been using a tool that didn’t drag like a spoon under water.



Yeah, highly skilled folks probably have a lot of paddle dexterity and can roll up with a bowling ball. Mere mortals might want and need a quicker device.


The enemy of dogma:
Curiosity.



Keep wondering and asking, Kudzu. Your concept might not work as well as you’d hoped, but you won’t find out by crossing it off the list before even thinking it over.



Same for techniques, as well as physical objects.

need a quicker device.
I can roll up much quicker with a WW paddle than a GP. As I indicated in my previous post, a no setup, layback roll (what EJ calls an "advanced roll) is faster than any roll and very reliable. It is also easier to do with a WW paddle. I don’t know the skills of your friend and I sympathize with your wondering if he could have fared better, but with equal good skills I would want the WW paddle every time.

I
can roll equally fast with either paddle…it’s not the differant paddle that makes it faster…it’s the choice of a fast roll…rolling is not why I would choose one over the other.If you don’t feel that your roll is sufficent…then you need to practice rolling more!!!



For WW, I prefer a short spoon for it’s qualities in WW…for general long boat paddling I much prefer the Greenland paddle…but still not because of it’s rolling abilities.



They both roll equally fine



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9o7lR5E4Oi4



Best Wishes

Roy

Don’t forget your tuilik
If you want to roll really well, take up whitewater play boating. Then do it with hand paddles.



Dogmaticus