New Kayak, What Paddle?

[ES Fisherman]

Hey guys, I joined the board not to long ago and have been mostly lurking. Today I found a nice deal on a basically new (in the water once) ocean kayak tetra 12. I have a couple little crappy kayaks but this is my first nice one. The guy threw in a paddle with it but it's cheap and heavy and will be my backup. I'm 6' and have fairly long arms and want advice on a new paddle that I could get somewhere locally (within an hour of kent island). I'm not looking to spend too much but want at least a halfway decent one. I'll be mostly fishing in the bay if that makes a difference on what paddle to get.

[Sun]

I would highly recommend the Werner Camano paddle. It's $275 at REI when it's not on sale. If you can wait until their spring sale, you can get a bit of a discount on it. Or you could also try to find a used one on craigslist or something.

Whether you get the Camano or a different one, I think having a lightweight paddle makes a huge difference. You'd be surprised at how much less fatigued you feel after a day of paddling around.

[Fish]

+1 for Werner Camano

MyTmouse had let me use his werner camano paddle once and it had made a tremendous difference.

[mytmouse]

Man you're doing it right ES. I used a cheap paddle for around 2 years before I made the jump to the Camano!! Man my arms and shoulders are grateful I did! LOL The Camano is so lightweight but efficient! One stroke of the Camano creates such thrust... it's amazing! I know you wanna go with a local shop, but I got mine from Austin Kayak and used their monthly coupon code, plus it was free shipping! I had a 20% off so the paddle was just around 215! Only thing is it only comes in red at ACK. But that's my favorite color so I was cool with it! LOL

[J.A. Veil]

I agree with the idea of finding a lighter paddle. However, my personal preference for paddle blades is to have a large surface area. This is particularly good if you are tall and use a fairly vertical stroke. The Camano, while being a very good paddle, has a considerably smaller blade surface area (650 cm2). I borrowed Raptor's Camano paddle to try it out, and knew after just a minute that I did not like the feel and power of the smaller blade area. If you like a small blade area, consider the Camano. But if you like a larger blade area, look at other models.

I use an old and heavy Aqua Bound Manta Ray paddle with fiberglass shaft that came with my kayak. It has blade area of 671 cm2. I know it is heavy and plan to purchase a new paddle that is considerably lighter in weight. But before buying a brand solely on a verbal recommendation, it may be worth your while to study the paddle specifications on the Werner, Aqua Bound, and Bending Branches websites. You can check on shaft material (fiberglass, carbon, extra-light carbon), blade material (plastic, carbon-reinforced plastic, and others), weight, and paddle surface area. At some point you need to choose the length of paddle you want. Factors to consider there include: your height when sitting, type of paddle stroke you use most often (horizontal vs. vertical), and the width of your kayak. You can also see the price points for each model. Try to find out the weight of your current paddle. If it is an inexpensive paddle, it may weight 35 oz or more. You may find that you pay double to go from 29 oz to 25 oz. You need to decide if saving 4 oz is worth the extra money, when the 29 oz paddle is already much lighter than your current one.

One final thought about paddles. I believe that having a bright colored blade is a good safety feature. When I look across open water I can see yellow, white, or orange paddle blades moving up and down before I see the kayak itself. Black carbon blades look cool, but do not offer that color safety advantage. If I end up buying a paddle with black blades, I plan to paint the blades or apply reflective stickers to the paddle to improve visibility.

Consider coming to one of the meet and greets and trying out the paddles used by other participants.

[dhawk]

paddles are a very personal thing so whats good for one like john said may not work for you Im a big guy 6'5" and paddle length was more important to me than weight i started with a heavy aluminum 230 cm paddle and now have a bending branches angler thats a 240 cm ($130 at bass pro) paddle which helps on my 33" wide kayak and long wing span thought the bb paddle is alot lighter than the aluminum one those few ounces were never really an issue for me I never thought about blade sizes before but they were both the same

[mytmouse]

John is right, it is good to try them out first. You might wanna check out a local shop before buying one. Also there is good literature on Werner's site about different strokes. I, unlike John, do not have a high angle stroke so the lower profile blade fits me well. Actually my previous paddle was a full paddle and I hated it! LOL It's just different for everyone.

I know that Werner has done paddle demo days in the past but the only one I heard about was all the way at Appotamax River Co. But I am sure if you give some local shops a call they can at least loan you one if they don't have a date coming up. And as DHawk said length is important too. I use a 240cm because of the width of my yak, it makes a huge difference! As far as money goes you will see a HUGE weight savings from the into lines to the mid lines no matter which company you choose. The differences you see from the mid to high end is usually fairly small. IMO it ain't worth the cash especially if your primary focus is fishing! LOL

[ES Fisherman]

Ok thanks a lot for the tips guys. I'll just stick with my cheap paddles for now and decide on a new one later after I've tried some out. On another note what kind of pfd do you recommend? I have some bulky ones that I don't really like so I'm considering either an auto-manual inflatable or a lighter weight mesh life vest.

[Bulldog]

Get a PFD that you will wear! I'm not a fan of the auto inflators, because of possible operation when really wet, or when you use it once you now have a PFD that isn't ready to go that afternoon or next day until you get a kit. I wear a PFD everytime I'm in the yak no matter what kind of water, my wife made me promise, and also the two times I flipped was unexpected. So get a lightweight one, with some mesh on it, high foam on back to fit your seat better, and think about how many pockets you really neat, vests with pockets full of stuff make it harder to get back in the yak........jack

[J.A. Veil]

Russ498 posted an ad for a good quality paddling vest a few days ago in the Tackle Box section. Take a look at: http://www.snaggedline.com/showthrea...-Bright-Yellow.

[MetroMan]

Ok thanks a lot for the tips guys. I'll just stick with my cheap paddles for now and decide on a new one later after I've tried some out. On another note what kind of pfd do you recommend? I have some bulky ones that I don't really like so I'm considering either an auto-manual inflatable or a lighter weight mesh life vest.

I have both. There are pros & cons to each. Just for the tournament last weeken, I went BACK to my traditional PFD. I didn't realize how much I missed having pockets. The CO2 inflatables are great in the freedom of movement and lack of bulk they provide. But I am leaning toward a good quality traditional vest for the convenience of pockets, and being able to attach tools (kinves, pliers, radio, etc) to it.