Jimbo wrote on May 14^th, 2014 at 8:40pm:


Jimbo, for your next trip you should put in at Stanton Bay, paddle out into the middle of Pickerel, and just spend a week going wherever your sail takes you. 

I too have a sail somewhere in the basement. Not only will it take you in an indeterminate direction, but it will often do so at terrifying speeds. Mine is blue, not pink. Not sure if that would make a difference in the resale market or not.

Ranger

Ranger wrote on May 13^th, 2014 at 12:31am:


You do have drip rings on double shaft?
Also how long is your double paddle?
I can't remember your canoe Ranger, but on-line research told me that for a tandem width canoe, you need a paddle at least 9 ft long.

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I'm 5' 9", so a 9ft paddle is just a little longer than they recommend,

The added length is needed because a tandem canoe or even a big solo is much wider than a kayak.

Shorter paddle might seem the answer, but with the higher gunnels in a canoe, a paddle that's to short forces you to "windmill" paddle, which puts the shaft/blade more vertical which in turn puts more water in your boat, drip rings or not.

You want what they call a "touring" stroke, with the paddle being almost horizontal compared to the "windmill" stroke.

The experts call it high angle or low angle paddling.

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I paddled almost exclusively with the double in tough head-on winds and got very little water in boat considering how hard I was paddling.