When I learned how to use a Greenland paddle, I started saying rash things like “I’m never going to waste money on an expensive carbon fiber paddle when I can carve a wonderful paddle out of a 2x4”. But then this small company called Superior Kayaks started selling carbon fiber Greenland paddles. This paddle was favorably reviewed in Sea Kayaker Magazine, and among other things the reviewer said “If I had found this paddle lying in the Nevada desert I would have assumed it was a piece of a stealth bomber that broke of and fell to earth”. A Greenland paddle has an elegant, streamlined, aerodynamic look to it, and making one out of carbon fiber would accentuate this. When I was driving back from my recent trip to Baja, Albert Wang told us about trying one of these out at a kayak shop in San Diego. He thought the carbon fiber Greenland paddle was very interesting. I finally broke down and violated my earlier rash statements and ordered one of these paddles.
Superior Kayaks is a small company that sells traditional Greenland paddles, harpoons(!), plans for wooden and skin-on-frame kayaks, and gives workshops on building kayaks. Space age carbon fiber paddles seems like a big step for them, but I’m not complaining. This company is so small that most kayak outfitters don’t bother to carry their stuff and I had to order it directly from them. The paddle finally arrived during the week and Saturday was my first chance to try it out.
I could not find anyone to go paddling with me so I launched solo from the beach behind Goat Rock. The swell was reported as being small but the launch was a little exciting, requiring timing and plowing over a few breaking waves. When I paddled out to the big arched rock I found more evidence that the swell was bigger than reported. The waves breaking around and into the arch were often steeper than I would care to deal with, especially alone. I skipped going through the arch this trip.
The new paddle was interesting, as Albert had warned me. It is made of a thin shell of carbon fiber, perhaps with some foam-core inside. It is so light it feels weightless. I joked with some friends later that I have to put a paddle leash on it on hot days, because the black carbon fiber soaks up the sunlight and it will rise into the air like a hot air balloon and drift away. I had some trouble getting used to the light weight at first. The paddle has no inertia when moving through the air and then suddenly has a lot of resistance when it hits the water. This jarred my wrists at first and they started to get sore. The inertia of a heavier wooden paddle prevented this from happening to me. But I suspect that this really means that I have not been placing the blade in the water as carefully as I should, and learning to do so with this lightweight paddle will be good for my paddle stroke.
I tried rolling with the paddle and the buoyancy was very noticeable. A wooden Greenland paddle normally has a lot of buoyancy that helps bring the paddle to the surface, helps hold it at the right angle, and helps keep it near the surface while rolling. This hollow carbon fiber paddle has a tremendous amount of buoyancy and seems to shove me back upright when I roll!
In the rough conditions I paddleded outside most of the rocks down past Shell Beach and to the start of Wrights Beach. Then I turned back to Goat Rock (forgoing the arch again) and surfed in for a landing. I tried sitting close to shore and bracing into the breaking waves. The tide had come up quite a bit while I was out and a bunch of board surfers were playing in the water now. I went back out a few times and got two or three fun surfing rides myself.