Kayak questions

[fishhomer75]

My son is the proud owner of a new kayak (big thanks to the guys at OOO). Alas, I no exactly squat about kayaks. I expect that this will be the first of many posts seeking advice. Our first issues are with his paddle. He has a Werner sprite. First question is the fact that it did not come equipped with the rings that keep water from running down the shaft. Can these be purchased separately? Can they be redneck rigged somehow? He got pretty wet just from a couple hours tooling around at lake Sylvia. Also, the paddle can be setup with the blades at offset angles or in line with each other. What is the advantage/reason for setting them up offset? I appreciate any and all advice, even if it is about something I have not thought to ask yet. Thx in advance.

[RomanLA]

I've got these on my touring paddle. With a kid's paddle, you may have to wrap the shaft with some duct tape to make it thick enough though.
http://www.austinkayak.com/products/644 ... Rings.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The offset is for wind resistance on the blade out of the water. The repetitive motion of twisting the paddle can result in injuries though. It looks like that paddle will do 0 or 45 degrees, so I'd say just leave it at 0 degrees for now.

[Cowper]

There is an interesting "test" of 45 degree offset vs. 0 degree offsets here:

http://nocpaddlingschool.blogspot.com/2 ... study.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

From my own testing done after a wrist injury, I really believe an offset of about 30 to 45 degrees requires LESS wrist-twisting than the zero degree offset. So for most adults, faced with a 0 - 45 - 90 degree offset choice, I would say stick with the 45, it will begin to feel natural after a day or two.

For a youth, I tend to agree with Roman - let him go with the 0 degree; that will probably be less confusing to him.

But just to be sure, why not let your son try both 0 degrees and 45 degrees for one day each, then let him choose for himself? If the 0 degrees is more natural or intuitive for him, let him stick with that; he has many years before he needs to worry about things like repetitive motion injuries.

[fishhomer75]

Thanks for the help guys. Drip rings are in the mail. Gonna try to get him on the water this weekend, might let him try the paddle offset. Sure we will have more questions as we go.

[okieboater]

Here is what one of my kayak hero's has to say about paddle feather. I have a couple of his works of art and they are fun to paddle =====


http://rivrstyx.com/html/the_feather_rap.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Shep]

The key to a feathered paddle (or even a straight paddle actually) is that one hand has to have a "slip" grip... in other words, most people keep their left hand loose so that the shaft rotates in their hand. The right hand then has a little bit tighter grip and is used to control the rotation of the paddle. It is my extremely well thought-out opinion ( ) that feathering is completely about keeping the most ergonomic arm/wrist/hand position in any water-craft except for a rowing shell, where it is about not catching water during the recovery and flipping the boat. I don't think it makes a darn bit of difference about wind resistance.

Shep