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 …