We just finished filming the new FREE Greenland paddle building course, during which I built three very similar paddles to see if I could feel the difference between them. I also have a Gearlab Kalleq (very nice paddle) and a fully dihedral shaped wooden paddle for comparison.
I was surprised by how much difference I could feel between them. The real difference here is that each paddle has progressively slightly more dihedral than the last. A little bit is helpful because it cuts down on weight and improves flex without reducing strength but there’s a point at which the blade starts splitting the water on a forward stroke as opposed to flowing cleanly off of one edge. That’s actually a good thing in that it stabilizes the blade and removes flutter but at the same time it seems to interfere with the wing like function of the blade which adds lift and power. So basically I’m trying to quantify how far I can go here without tripping over that edge.
So I took all the paddles out for a very brief spin and gain some impressions, and then the next step is to take them home and survey all of them, and then compare my paddling impressions to the shaping and then decide on the final shape that we are going to put in the paddle plans. So that’s what we’re doing today.
___
This post was originally featured on our Instagram feed.
See the original post and discussion here.
