New Toy

I bought a new paddle. Yes I’m still very much into my Lumpy Greenland paddle, and will likely always be a GP paddler at heart. But I did find I had lots of fun working with the Euro last year when I took the ACA Coastal Instructors class. It had been a long time since I’d actually played and paddled with one.

In fact, my friend Jane had to nudge me with an email earlier this month, “I didn’t mean for you to keep it” she said, after lending it to me last October.

So I decided to buy my own. I like having a 2-piece Euro as a spare, and kind of like my bike, I like the idea of having a low and high gear available.

I’d been reading Silbs postings about his trials looking for the right new paddle. He surprised himself by preferring a longer 230cm touring paddle. My GP is already quite long at 90” and it is my low angle distance touring paddle, so I opted for a 215, mid-sized blade, high angle paddle, the Werner Cyprus. In fact I got a great deal buying the older model, a big closeout sale, online from NY Kayak Company.

The paddle arrived last night. I won’t get to try it out till Saturday morning, when I’m also teaching a clinic on “Mastering YOUR Forward Stroke” for the Carolina Kayak Club.

That works out perfectly, as I’ll be student and teacher. And just in time for some surf work at the Barrier Island Kayaks Outer Banks Symposium in a couple weeks.