Jay's Paddling Passion - a new kind of paddle!

Put a paddle in my hands and I'm at peace.  Just me, the water, my vessel and the paddle slicing through the water.

Well, theirs been a new paddle in my hands recently.  A paddle that I've been wanting to try for many many years (so I've been told.)

The Kayak Paddle.  I've always been excited by kayaks and anything kayak related.  So this past summer I tried it  out a few times, and I absolutely loved it!  So much so that I'm going to buy one this spring and use it several times per week, for morning excersice and a few nights or Saturdays for pleasure!

The kayak has been described by others as being the most romantic paddling method, and as being a boat that makes you feel one with the water.  As corny as it sounds... it's true.  When sitting in a canoe, you sit on top of the water like sitting on a chair.  When sitting in a kayak, your legs are acually below the waterline.  Very cool!  Waves roll over the deck, water drips off your paddle onto the spray skirt keeping you dry, your hands dip into the water on the odd stroke into a wave... ah.... :)  Is it spring yet?

So here's a few pics.

This is the Kayak I'm looking at buying.  It's a Necky Manitou 14' made out of recycled plastic:

With doing piles of research into boats, equipment etc, I've come to realize that a tonne of research goes into paddles and paddle design, almost more so that boat and hull design!

Here's some examples:

This drawing shows how an asymmetrical designed paddle is smoother and more efficient in the water.  The orange half of the blade is the same surface area below the water level as the blue half of the blade.  A paddle that is not designed assymetrical would tend to twist in the water as the bottom half of the blade would be taking on more water area than the top half... crazy!

This drawing shows how the cross section of the blade is important for water flow around the blade to prevent turbulance and vibrations but yet maintaining a powerful stroke.

So that's an intro to the Kayaking world. It's a cool sport, lots of cool people out on the water and Ontario is one of the best places to live in Canada for varied water bodies. Anything from large waves in the Great Lakes to ponds to rivers and whitewater. Fun fun! :)

To give you an idea of my dream kayaking trip, see this beautiful online slideshow: