the paddle test
Posted by derrick on July 23, 2008
Tiny lightnin’ / In the storm
Tiny blankets / Gonna keep you warm
Tiny pillows / Tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny sheets
Talkin’ bout the tiny cookies / That the peoples eats
- frank zappa
So it was Gryphon’s turn to test gear. At 7 years old he’s been growing in sudden, sharp stints. While his Episea is actually fitting him better day by day, his paddle was not. So while at the Great Lakes Symposium Werner sent him out on the water with a Werner “Sprite”. The sprite is a downsized 2-piece paddle with scaled down fiberglass reinforced nylon blades and a smaller diameter shaft.
After the first day out he was not all that happy with the new paddle. Kids are either pleased with something or not, there are no details or grey areas. But watching him paddle with it I could see that the suddenly much longer shaft (than his old paddle) was making boat control more difficult. Something he’d just started to feel good about. Also the smaller blade did not quite bite as much as his other paddle either. That combination did make it look as if he was struggling more. After a bit of observation I jumped in to give him some little pointers, basically correcting how he held the paddle and encouraging him to get more of the blade in the water. Still at the end of the day he was ready to take it back.
As we drove back to drop off the paddle I was contemplating what other options there are out there for kids. I was thinking that a shorter shaft and a bit larger blade would help him make the adjustment from what he was used to. (Kids Ikelos anyone??) In the end of course I knew the paddle was fine and it was his sense of the familiar that was influencing his opinion more than anything else. Still though, as we pulled into the parking lot Gryphon said, “Dad, maybe I need to test paddle it again.”. “Probably.” I responded and we went in to drop it off.
Kid’s GP. Custom sized to the person (plus a little extra for growth), easy on the muscles, unfeathered means less complication, etc. My 11yo daughter finally outgrew the one I made for her a couple years ago, so on a trip a few weeks ago, she used the GP I made for my wife. In two days of paddling, she did 10 miles along Bois Blanc Island and five miles more between Bois Blanc, Round, Mackinaw Island and back without much complaint.
Our kids paddled with the Werner Sprite for years before moving on to a Camano and then a small-shaft, 205 cm. Cyprus.
The Sprite is a terrific paddle for kids because it’s relatively light and seemingly indestructible, but it is too long. That’s a serious downside to an otherwise nice paddle.
Both kids love the Gremlin whitewater paddle (by Lendal). That’s a viable option for kids who need a shorter length and a smaller blade, whether on the river or open water.
Sharon & Alec
The new Aquabound Sharkie looks pretty nice to me, although my boyo is still a bit too young (at 4.5) to get one just yet…
http://www.aquabound.com/images/sharkiepage.jpg
good recommendations there. Hopefully I was clear in saying that the sprite is a great paddle for price, size etc. . however your kids have to be a bit older or taller (or both) than Gryphon is. I was sort of leaning toward a GP too but of course your kids don’t always agree. he’d played with my storm & his moms paddle (which is WAY to long for him) a bit and has been summarily unimpressed.
Sharon & Alec, I’d forgotten about that gremlin. That was a nice short paddle with a bigger blade. .
Thanks for pointing that one out Mike. You just wait. . . .
Check out a jackson kids paddle…shorter shaft…smaller diameter shaft…..bigger blades….
i use one for surf personally and love it…..
they are actually made by Galasport……
r
This weekend I set up my 8 yr old daughter with a W.S. Tsunami SP and a 190cm Lendal Gremlin. I thought I was going to get the Werner Sprite until I saw the Gremlin: smooth shaft and bigger blades, but a few more $$.
To make a long story short, she loves the setup and really blew me away with the speed of her self-directed progress. My only ‘goal’ for the weekend was teaching her to wet exit and prevent a yard sale, but she impressed me by intuitively trying forward and reverse sweep strokes, and going out for a two hour paddle on our lake. Most of the advice I gave her was to ’slow down’ (I had to tow her back in).
I can only hope there are many more times where I have so much fun being impressed by my kids!
-John (Michigan)
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