WAVEWALK KAYAKS

Some DIY projects are special – Kevin Eastman is a fly kayak fisherman from Florida, who made a DIY Greenland – Aleutian style kayak paddle for his new W500 fishing kayak.

Contrarily to what most kayakers seem to believe, aboriginal kayak paddle were not necessarily short as standard modern paddles are, and some could be as long as the paddle Kevin made, and even longer. The decision about the length of the paddle depended on the owner’s plans for usage and paddling style, and sometimes on the availability of materials in the barren Arctic.

Says Kevin:

-I made a Greenland/Aleutian paddle for my W500.  So far it seems to be working out very well, and it has the advantage of being very light.  One face of the paddle is the beveled Greenland style and the other face is a flatter Aleutian style.  The Greenland face allows for quicker acceleration while the Aleutian surface shines at faster speeds.

It’s 9 1/2 feet long and about 3 1/2″ wide at the tip.  I made it from a 10′ cedar 2X4 and finished it in teak oil.   The loom (hand hold area) is 24″. I think using cedar is the key for this long of a paddle.  Using some of the other woods used for shorter Greenland paddles would make it a bit heavy.

The paddle is nearly as light as the Pacific Design paddle I use for my other kayaks, and has a very low swing weight because of the thin blades, making it easy to paddle long periods without fatigue.  The flex of the wood and dynamics of the paddle also make it easy one the joints.

I took a picture with it next to my Pacific Design paddle for size comparison:

Since I’m in Florida with oyster bars everywhere, I decided to protect the paddle tip with fiberglass cloth and epoxy.  So far that is keeping the oysters at bay.

The drip rings are made out of oval pieces of inner tube.  These are essential since the long blade surface accumulates a lot of water that will otherwise end up in your lap.

This is a fairly easy project for anyone that is game to try.  There are lots of “how to” articles to be found on the Web.  It’s also the first time I’ve made one.

The paddle can be used very well without a sliding stroke, but if you need to dig in on a turn it helps out. Also when standing, the sliding stroke helps with more speed, but is not needed.

One thing it does do is allow you to keep the paddle very low around the waist when stroking and use your torso to put the power to the paddle well.

I was going to order an extended midsection for my P.D. paddle initially, but after using this, I may just be content.

I’m going to take some GPS readings to see what speeds it will cruise at vs a traditional wide paddle.

I’ll send some more pictures of my W500 when I finally decide on how I’m going to rig this boat.
I did a little umbrella sailing yesterday and that was interesting.

Kevin

We’re moving to a new location, south of Boston, in the end of August.

Until August 20th, 2009, all W kayaks and W fishing kayaks we have in stock will be on sale, and you’ll be able to get a 10% discount on them.

After that date all kayak prices will go back to normal.

Unfortunately, we can’t offer any discounts on shipping, paddles, anchors, rod holders and stake-out poles.

Yoav

So, reading this headline you must have thought this post is about yet another guy paddling standing in his W kayak, but this time it’s not…

Stand up paddle boards are becoming increasingly popular among surfers, which use special, extra-long single blade paddles to paddle and surf standing.

Jason Starr, from Vermont got himself a double-blade 9′ 4″ long Wavewalk paddle, and this is what he wrote us:

-”I’ve attached a photo of me using the paddle on a Stand Up Paddleboard near Rye, N.H. I really enjoyed having a paddle on both ends and think it’s an advantage over the single blade paddles. Especially when standing facing forward when paddling for speed or on flatwater.
-Jason”



Jeff McGovern did it again: This time he found what seems to be a perfect DIY solution for flat water, ‘drop-in’ paddle holders. It’s so simple and elegant – just a pair of bathroom door clothes hooks attached to the cockpit rim with plastic straps, using the factory-made holes that are already there…

The hole came with the boat, and it’s there exactly for this purpose: Enable the kayak fisherman to easily attach his tackle and gear to the kayak.



A standup paddling board surfer asked me whether he could use his single blade, extra long standup paddle-surfing paddle for paddling a W Kayak. -Standup padding surf boards is becoming trendy in the board surfing community, and I find this question to be interesting.

Surfers’ paddles are single bladed and look like extremely long canoe paddles. They are usually made several inches longer than the paddle-surfer himself, and would work well for standup paddling a W Kayak. However, using such a long paddle would be uncomfortable in the lower W positions, which are riding (mounted), sitting and kneeling.

The picture below shows me demonstrating standup paddling in a W kayak using a single blade paddle made from one part of a Mohawk two-pieces double blade paddle equipped with the T-grip extension handle.

These single blade canoe paddles (or shortish standup paddle surfing paddles, if you prefer…) are 5′ 3″ or 5′ 1″ long, which makes them slightly longer than regular canoe paddles are. They are good enough for standup paddling – unless you’re exceptionally tall (I’m 6′). However, since these paddles are shorter than the surfers’ standup paddles they also work very well for the lower paddling positions, that is as a regular ‘canoeing’ paddles, which is what they were basically designed for.

Yoav