What is your main go-to style paddle?
- Euro
- Greenland
- Wing
- Single Blade
0 voters
that a bit more the 50% so far use GL paddles is a slight surprise, but what is a large surprise is that only 17 people were on this thread who voted at all.
I have to wonder if the site is doing that slowly in itâs popularity, or if a lot of paddlers just didnât vote.
I am a voting GLâer. And impressed this site allows a survey/multiple choice option.
Yeah, itâs crazy slow here for some reason. I asked on a Solo Kayaking FB group and 272 people have voted. Itâs 108 Euro vs 106 Greenland currently with with at like 49. Iâm really surprised by the results honestly. I didnât realize GL paddles were so popular.
Cool
I wasnât aware that polls could be done here.
I use all the types listed. I paddle both canoe and kayaks. I use single blade paddles both bent and straight blade. I often use my Greenland but also use the euro or wing depending on wind, currents and waves. When surfing the kayak, I use euro when I want to make time, I use the wing. Perhaps others didnât respond because they donât use a single style of paddle. So, your poll just doesnât work for me as I checked all the boxes.
The paddle really depends on the type of paddling one does. The principle of the right tool for the job. It might be the poll that doesnât work for some that view this thread. Lately I do more sailing than paddling.
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I hear ya and that makes sense. Iâm the same way but for the sake of just general curiosity, i was just curious which would be your go-to favorite type paddle. If you took into account most all situations but could only pack 1 paddle for the occasion, your tried- and- true work horse. I wasnât trying to really do anything scientific, just curious more than anything. I âseeâ a ton of euro blades on the YouTube vids but hear on forums of everyone talking about GL and then throw a wing in the mix and my curiosity was piqued.
I voted Euro, but my go-to Nimbus is a quill - rather unlike the typical euro blade shapes. My spare is a GP.
For Kayaks I would say 45% for GP and Euro and 10% wing. For the canoe I have 3 different paddle designs I use. I guess you would call it a touring blade wide with a flat bottom, a long narrow blade, and a bent shaft light weight wide flat bottom blade. I use the bent shaft and the long narrow blade the most, and about equally.
i polled a local kayaking group and they were 80% euro, 15% GL and 5% other. but we donât have many big water areas around. mainly lakes and a few rivers, smaller ones, nothing huge. lot of rec/fair weather/summer only paddlers.
In our Club it is probably 65% Euro, 30% Greenland and 5% wing. We usually have an annual Greenland paddle workshop or the percentage of Greenland paddles would probably be lower. Almost all of the people using Greenland paddles made them themselves.
Sadly, i think a lot of people have left because things have gotten so confronational lately.
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Speaking of the growth of GP popularity, this short video clip compiled by one of the participatns was just shared to those of us on the contact list of attendees at the 4 day plus QajaqUSA sponsored Delmarva Paddlers Retreat on Rehoboth Bay this past October. One of the featured activities was a workshop for carving your own GP with renowned paddle maker, Don Beale. And, of course, all of the skills activities were based on Greenland paddling, both the paddles and the related boats and gear. This year there were over 100 participants. As you can see, the weather was terrific.
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Onski326, where are you?
I ask because Iâd bet the popularity of one type of paddle over another may be localized.
Several factors can effect such popularity, starting with availability. If paddle shops in an area sell only euro paddles itâs likely most newer paddlers are going to use what they can get. Here in Wyoming by far the 2 most used types of kayaks are the fishing and white water types. When out on the lakes if I run into other kayakers (who are not those I brought into the sport,) nearly all of them are in SOT fishing kayaks or WW kayaks and probably 9 out of 10 have cheep walmart type paddles, which for what they are doing are working just fine for them.
For a step away and up from the $40 big-box paddles I started using GL and Aleut paddle because I could make them and experiment with different shapes and sizing. Good paddles cost a lot, and for myself, being isolated from most of the âkayaking worldâ I have very few opportunities to try paddles out before I buy. (Jyak was SUPER helpful to me in that regard) But the honest truth is that I have come to love GL paddles probably because I make them, and so I can do my âtry-outsâ and not spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars in doing so.
Also, because I have brought about 30 people into the world of touring/sea kayaks, when they would come out and try a kayak it was just âa givenâ that I was going to have some GL and Aleut paddles for them t to try.
So now, here in central Wyoming when you see someone in a sea kayak on a lake there is a good possibility I am the one who found the kayak for them and they got to try a cheep euro paddle as well as several GL paddles of various lengths and sizes when they first got introduced into the sport and many found the GL style of paddle the easiest to learn with. Of the 30 or so people I have got hooked on kayaking, only 2 of them are using euro paddles and all the rest are using GL or Aleut paddles most of which I made for them.
In my buying and re-selling kayaks for several years now I have picked up just about as many paddles as I have kayaks. But only 3 of them were not big-box cheepie paddles.
As of this writing I have only 4 euro paddles that Iâd call âgood onesâ and I have saved about 8 âcheepiesâ (out of maybe 32) to lend out to people or often just give them away. My good quality paddles are an Aqua Bound full carbon (the one that was made just before the Sting Ray replaced it) and also an Aqua Hybrid Bond Eagle Ray. I also have a 1 piece hybrid carbon paddle with 45 degree feather which my wife likes but I dislike, so I never use it (I do not like feather with my blades) and the best one is the one John gave me, the Warner Kalliste full carbon.
In the last 2 years I dedicated myself to using mostly the euro paddles, to learn how. Overall I am pleased with my progress, but for whatever reason, I still am most comfortable with the GL and Aleut paddles especially when the wind come up and makes the waves challenging. For bracing and rolling they are simply easier to learn and more intuitive in use when bracing and roiling are not being done just for fun.
2 years ago I went to Flathead Lake in Montana to buy a kayak and when I was there I got on the water and met about 15 kayakers, most of whom had high end kayaks and top notch paddles and only 1 of them was using a GL paddle. So that is a large lake in the Rocky mountains and yet, just 1 state north, nearly all were using euro paddles. That is a wealthy area and when I saw that nearly all the kayaks were carbon and Kevlar it was apparent those people were not poor, and could afford to buy what they wanted, so ordering and trying paddles was not as much a concern to them I would guess.
Local availability is less important to a general population who as a rule are more affluent then those in the middle class or lower/middle class. People in the 6 figure range care less about taking a $500 dollar gamble then people in the lower 5 figure range.
I suspect location has a lot to do with popularity of paddle styles. I canât prove that, but I believe itâs true. And even people who earn a lot less but who live on or near sea coasts will have opportunity to try gear and boats far more then those that are inland 500 to 1500 miles. So a poor working stiff near an ocean (or the Great lakes) can often try several options before he or she spends hard earned money. That is far less the case inland very far.
In my last 2 years I have evolved some. I sill always have a GL paddle on every trip, but now I also take a good Euro out too. 3 years ago I took a paddle out on a morning trip with a âpuddle paddleâ as a spare. I was out about 4 miles when I broke my first paddle and as luck would have it the wind came up and was exactly at my bow, so I had to paddle back with something small and short with a poor catch in the water, and thought Iâd die of old age before I ever got back to my truck. The NEXT DAY I ordered the Aqua Bound Eagle Ray. I learned my lesson. Your spare should be as useful as your main paddle. Because at a time you need the spare, you REALLY NEED THE SPARE!!!
So now I will have a GL and a euro with me on every trip out. I still prefer the GL overall, but I am willing to concede several points where the good euros have advantages.
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Texas
Near the gulf, or inland? If inland, how far?
(Texas is really big)
The Dallas/Fort Worth area. About a 5hr drive from the coast.
Iâm from the B and B days. Relative to then, there really isnât confrontation any more.
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Might be more about the glitches the site has. It gets frustrating having to âTry Againâ or Go Back" choice. A while back a lot couldnât even get in or post so probably gave up and left.
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Iâve been paddling since 1980âs and never knew the terms or meanings.