Arkansas Canoe Club Forums

I've started teaching my 6 year old to kayak, but she needs a much smaller paddle. I'd prefer not to have a custom paddle made, until I'm sure this is something she really likes. The touring paddle Werner makes only goes down to 180cm. Caviness and Bending Branches both have paddles that come in shorter lengths. The one from Bending Branches is wood and actually looks pretty nice. Anybody have experience with one of these?
http://www.bendingbranches.com/woodkayak/wk_minnow.html

I don't know if Nick will see this but Hunter has a small wooden paddle around 160 I would say. Maybe he will chime in and let you know or the next time I go out with them will fill you in. I have a little girl going on 6 and she is getting into the sport.

Are THESE the werners you were speaking of? They worked for my kid. He is bigger than 6 tho.

I also chopped off a pair of inflatable oars to get Q in motion. Like THESE. The ones I had were 2 piece so I made them into a 3 piece kayak paddle. I wanted to be sure he would go for it before i $pent $100 on a paddle.

I have a sprite and an amigo you could try if you weren't soooooo far away. Another boy on the way up makes me want to hang on to them. You could have my homemade job. It was only used for VERY short backyard trips tho. What kind of trips are you starting your daughter on?

My daughter has a Minnow. It's a nice paddle. She still hasn't been in the water much with it yet, but it seems light enough and short enough for her.

She's 7....and so far so good with this paddle. I got it at Don's at OOO...you may want to call him and see if he has any.

Same dilemma last summer. Bought a cheap rec paddle at Academy and cut it back to fit my small 11 year-old son. He had started out in a sit-on-top, but it was too big for him. He bought a used boat (with my help) with saved up gift money and learned how to roll it. The paddle has worked great so far as he's not strong enough to stress the plastic blades yet.

My son uses the bending branches 160 cm it works great for his Fun1 Nick

I ordered a second 160cm Minnow today for my 9 year old. They have discontinued the paddle and there was only one more 160cm left at the factory. I didn't ask if they had any of the larger sizes available. Anyway, if you think you may need a kids paddle, I would jump on it. I noticed that OOO had one in stock, so they should be able to place an order for you. (I'm not sure what size they have in stock.)

go here to Jackson kayaks for info from EJ on how he outfitted his kids

http://www.jacksonkayak.com/kidscorner/ ... g-kids.cfm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Jackson makes paddles for going down to 150 cm. They seem a bit spendy for a kid's paddle but I'm sure they are well made:

http://www.jacksonkayak.com/store/produ ... kidspaddle

I just saw that AT is now making a kid's whitewater paddle.
http://www.atpaddle.com/WhitewaterProducts/Grom.html

I bought the 175 cm AT Grom for my 7 year old through Pack Rat in Fayetteville. So far so good. It's very light, 30-deg offset, & only about $90!