CANOE PADDLES
Canoe paddles are used for all types of rigid and inflatable canoes and rafts. A paddle consists of a grip (head), shaft, and blade. All the paddles we rent have a duralumin shaft and plastic blade and head. Nearly all are manufactured by the Panda company. A paddle for a canoe or raft should be long enough so that when you stand it on the ground, it reaches from your nose to your chin. We consider paddles shorter than 130 cm as children's paddles – a child’s paddle should extend in front of their face. The proper grip for a canoe paddle is to hold the top part behind the head with your upper hand and about 10 cm above the blade with your lower hand. When you lay such a correctly sized paddle on your head, both elbows should be bent at a right angle.
KAYAK PADDLES
Kayak paddles consist of a shaft and two blades. We rent paddles from Panda, Profiplast – Yukon, and exceptionally TNP. All our paddles have a duralumin shaft and plastic blades. Paddles differ in length, blade shape, angle, and the direction in which the blades are rotated relative to each other. We choose the paddle length so that when held 5–10 cm above the blades and laid on your head, the bending angle of both elbows is 90°. As a rule of thumb, the longer your boat, the longer the paddle you need. For long boats like sea kayaks, the paddle should be 10–15 cm longer. The blades are rotated relative to each other to reduce wind resistance when paddling. When paddling on the sea or on large bodies of water, a 90° blade rotation works well; on ordinary rivers, paddles with a 60° angle are most common, while for freestyle and rodeo, paddles with a smaller or minimal angle are used. Most of our paddles have a 60° rotation angle, while some have 90°. Depending on the rotation of the blades, paddles are divided into left and right. You can tell which paddle you have by standing it on the ground with the grabbing side of the lower blade facing inward (toward the other blade) – that is the correct one. The choice of a right or left paddle is not related to being right- or left-handed. Generally, you use whichever paddle is handed to you first. It is an exception if a paddle does not suit someone, but that happens rarely. Once you know how to paddle, you can simply tell by trying it out: a right paddle is held firmly in the right hand while the left blade rotates, and vice versa for a left paddle. Dronte offers right, left, and paddles with a split shaft. Some of these can be assembled only one way, while others can be assembled in both ways.
