This is a great point STP, I thought about going into the terminology, but so many only know “feather or feathering” as a paddling technique and equally confuse offset for feather angle. Another Werner offset blade, that is a mainstay for me, is the fiberglass bladed Surge.
While I have only tried wood paddles on 2-3 occasions, don’t underestimate the feel and flex of a wood paddle. A finely crafted wood paddle can be hard to beat, especially when paddling with good vehicle access to RAPs. Below is a brief list of paddles that I prefer their engineering and sizing for packrafting.
Does the size of the person affect the recommendation of paddle size? Like having really long arms and 6’3" and paddling a Mule vs smaller paddler and smaller boat? I’m pretty new to packrafting and I have to admit I sqeak my raft a lot when I paddle. Thx in advance.
Definitely. I have a +2 ape index, but I’m only 5.5 inches tall. I generally use a 200 to 205 with my Wolverine. I think that may be long for someone my size. It also makes a difference which boat you are using. The boats with bigger tubes might warrant a different size paddle. I know this isn’t really a definitive answer. But quoting Dan from the blog post: “It should be long enough to reach the water. When you take a stroke, the connection between the blade and the shaft should be right around the water surface with the entire blade submerged. If you’re taking high-angle paddle strokes, you want a somewhat shorter shaft. Low-angle paddle strokes require a longer paddle shaft to reach the water.
Beware of paddle sizing guides intended for kayakers! The extra width of packraft tubes demand longer paddles by about 3-5 cm. At 5’10” I prefer a 197cm paddle for whitewater kayaking and a 200 cm paddle for whitewater packrafting.” And here’s an interesting reddit thread with more info: Reddit - Dive into anything
Thx in advance.