Hand Paddles

1

I`m new to packrafting, but not new to boating. I have been steep creeking class IV -V rivers for years (hard shell kayak) occasionally with hand paddles (just different and fun) but I have yet to see or hear about anyone hand paddling packrafts. It does seem to be a little bit more of a reach due to the extra with of the packraft, but on my maiden voyage of my new Llama packraft I used my hand paddles and had no problems at all, although it was a tame and shallow class III run. Are there bracing, rolling issues or is it just something that has not yet hit the packrafting world? My hand paddles have roughly the same surface area as a paddle minus the shaft so It seems to be a alternative to packing a paddle all the time, though more of a workout in some instances.

Any thoughts?

P.S. I would have played around more with the rolling/bracing but there was snow on the ground and just could not force my self to go over and get a brain freeze, next time.

2

Glad it worked for you. I hope it works for more people. I tried testing some hand paddles with my Llama in a wave pool, but quickly switched back to using my paddle. There just wasnt enough reach for my own preferance to manuever sharply. The packrafts are so much wider than the creek boats I’ve owned; I found my arms annoyingly rubbing ageanst the sides of the boat. Hand paddles might be a preferance for others though.

3

This year’s Alpacka calendar has a good pick of people using hand paddles to cross a lake on their scouts. They were lying face down on the boat and paddling like a surfboard though.

4

What do your hand paddles look like?
Do you have a link to them?
Could be interested for high alpine lakes…
Thanks,
ben