Right now I paddle 2-4 weekend days/month. However, the kids are getting older, and I want more time with them before they get so old that hanging out with dad is “not cool.” So I’ve made a resolution for the next year to “back off” from the number of “me” paddling trips per month, if it means spending more time on the water (any type) with the kids.

I’ve got my older daughter on her first river trip. It was in a tandem rec boat on the Hiawassee. She had a great time.

However, even in the tandem boat, the paddle is too large and shaft too thick for her to use.

Last week I bought a used Dancer XS. Very old school, but cheap enough to start taking out on flatwater and seeing how she likes it. If she’s hooked after a few outings, maybe a Fun 1 is in her future ….

In June 2006 I decided I should try hand paddling an entire river so I’d have a better feel of how they worked (they always just stayed in the back of my boat as backups).  It was the mighty Hiawassee. A common class II run in the southeast, it has enough playspots to help me really get used to the dynamics of hand paddling.  and by the end of the day, I was hooked.

I kept with my stick for any III-IV rivers the rest of that summer, using my hand paddles for the class II runs to get more used to the different dynamics of hand paddling.  By September 2006, I made “the switch” and now only use a stick for attainment workouts on a local river and when helping to instruct in a group setting.

This blog is nothing more than a self-centered web-archive for me to blab and share some aspects of these hand paddling experiences when I think about it …