What Solus says re: the different styles of paddle makes sense to me and rings true to me based upon my personal experience with both types of paddles.  True, I've had the "illusion", at times, that I was going faster with the double-blade - and, perhaps, for a period of time, I was - but I always ended up returning to my trusted bent shaft.  I did this for several different reasons. I wasn't used to the motion so my shoulders & chest would tire out.  OR, the "metal" double-blade I own proved too heavy for anyone to sustain for very long.  OR, I'd run into wind & water conditions that seemed out of my comfort zone using the double-blade, etc. & so on.  Anyway, I've always bounced back to the bent shaft.

I have allowed that a lighter double-blade paddle of the right length, more training on technique, a different kind of canoe, etc., might help my double-blade paddling.  However, the more conversations I have with folks who actually build & sell the canoes I paddle, the more I hear about the "physics" that Solus has described so well based upon design of the vessel, etc..  I appreciate the fact that Solus allows for the idiosyncratic styles of other paddlers who might actually perform better with double-blades.  I DO know they are a dedicated bunch.  You'd have to pry their double-blades out of their cold, dead fingers before they let go.  I figure there must be a reason for that; it must work for them, to some extent.

Anyway, my only point is that my own personal experience and research match up well with what Solus outlines.  I'd be quite willing to race a double-bladed paddler in the SAME canoe as mine over a distance of two or three miles using my bent shaft.  In fact, I'd bet a case of beer on it.  Please note, I'd be far less inclined to make that bet over a shorter distance... say, half-a-mile.  Inefficiency might not take its toll over such a short length....

By the way, I think I recognize today's POD.  Bill, I assume these are still shots taken from that 2006 expedition, right?  Regardless, nice pic!

Jimbo   

Ok Jimbo.  Last year I was using a nice light weight bent shaft someone loaned me and I could not quite keep up with you.  This year I hope to be swinging my double blade.  We will see if I can keep up now.

Magicpaddler wrote on Apr 5^th, 2018 at 2:52pm:


Hmmm... guess I'll have to throw in a few boulders to load you up similar to me, Magic!

What ST says about "what works for them" re: individual paddlers makes some sense.  That, and also what Solus said about canoes that were geared for "hit & switch" paddling.  All I know is that, SO FAR, paddling my Prism seems far more efficient with a bent shaft than with a double-blade.  That is what works for me.

At this very moment, however, I'd love to be using EITHER type of paddle if only the couple feet of snow and the ice on the lakes would go away!  Didn't somebody say it was Spring Time?  Another snow storm due to hit the Twin Cities on Sunday night.  Ugh!!!

Bill, your pics are warming me up.  Your pics follow basically the same route I'll be doing this year, except in reverse.  I need the encouragement so I hope there are several more!

Jimbo   

Solus wrote on Apr 6^th, 2018 at 1:36am:


You must not be a very competitive person.  I was talking - My empty Blackhawk (the fiberglass freighter) with my BB plastic Slice double vs. Your empty Voyageur (?) with your 8 oz. bent shaft that will blow away if you set it down.

Mano E Mano.  Local vs. Illinois flatlander.  We will start out in front of William and Hall and go to the PP portage landing.  First one to beach their boat wins.  The trophy will be a bronze foot tall solo paddler holding his choice of paddle high overhead.

JK. I like to exercise my imagination with my coffee.     

Bill,

Is this the top of the cliff on Darky Lake (above the pictos)? I believe you were one of the few guys that made that climb, if I recall correctly.   You found some nice blueberries up there, too!  If so, I would be that small speck on the water below you (left of center) as I continued to fish for lake trout.

Could be you climbed another cliff somewhere along the line, though, too. Just curious.

Jimbo