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Sobering reading. I have a friend I paddle with occasionally that is in his 60’s and is a dive instructor, and absolutely refuses to wear a pfd as he is a “strong and capable swimmer” due to his diving, or his “wetsuit provides enough buoyancy with his skill level”. Just can’t make him do it...

Beautiful boat Joe! They’re doing some cool stuff over at Hemlock. New colors, innegra layup, etc., all good stuff, love to see it! Their work always looks top notch and it’s good to see the quality is still there through their ownership transition and also while trying new things/innovating...

That’s awesome, I’ll be looking into that for sure. Thanks!

Still IXP, I gotta have that durability. The one downside to this color though is that the white scratches really stand out a lot. On my Polaris with the regular IXP, they blend in pretty well. On the flip side, wanting to hide the scratches will probably drive me to use the 303 a lot more...

Thanks! You can order the back bands from Northstar but I believe the brand is “Sea to Sunmit” and they are available other places as well (Rutabaga, etc). I think you can order it installed but I ordered it separately and installed myself. It does require an attachment point in front of the...

Thanks! Just extra layers, nothing removed. They say it adds a pretty insignificant amount of weight, on the order of a couple of pounds for both color layers combined but I haven’t weighed it. I believe the polyester color layers are thin and weigh almost nothing so it’s mostly the extra...

So back in late July, I had decided on purchasing a Northstar Phoenix. I had test paddled a few contenders at Rutabaga and the Phoenix just felt very good for my uses. I was torn however between ordering the standard IXP, or the Ruby covered version. I had seen Jeremy Vore’s Ruby model at...

First off let me say that I love these side by side tests, and think that these are of great value to the forum to have available for future generations. Great setups and execution, I have really enjoyed reading these. This one also brings up another point worth mentioning, and that is that...

That is always a very real, maybe even likely, possibility 😂 I certainly can’t go back now and tell him he might have a point, he’s insufferable when he thinks he’s right. Thankfully that’s a trait he didn’t pass on (and if you hear my wife snorting in the background I assure you it’s...

Well, since we’re talking about folks using the bent shaft paddle incorrectly, I’ll throw out there that my father to this day, knowing full well how a bent shaft is supposed to be used, still says he prefers to use it the wrong way. To hear him tell it, he prefers the stronger “catch” phase he...

I had the opportunity to try one out about a month ago and while I was not expecting to like it, I was very impressed. Swift says it’s their most popular solo and I can see why. I ultimately chose a Phoenix because it turned easier and felt faster, but the gap was not as big between the two as...

I could be wrong but the photo looks more like a Morningstar set up solo or a Rockstar. The other “head on” pic looks narrow so leaning more Rockstar. The stems also look more angled, and it looks a touch longer than the Star to my eye as well. I think the attached Starfire info is from when...

I ordered a Werner bandito in June as part of Outdoor Play’s going out of business sale and shipping was free, FedEx. Last July I ordered a Sanborn Minnesota from their website and shipping was $33 with UPS ground, but the paddle was on sale so it was still a little bit of a deal. No insurance.

Ha! I was still typing when you posted and said basically the same things you did. Oh well I’ll leave it up, great minds think alike 😂

I’ll second that, Mora’s are awesome! And you cannot beat the price/value. I agree they are pretty ergonomic and comfortable to use. Not the prettiest, but unbelievably functional (which is aesthetically pleasing in its own way). A couple of things I’ll add as a knife nerd and metallurgist...

For lake use I believe you are correct. For rivers with shallow sections where the whole paddle blade can’t be fully submerged, the beaver tail has a pretty big advantage with the width carried further down the blade. Of course, an even shorter, wider, and ideally more gravel resistant paddle...

I may take freestyle class or two with it, but the one I recently got will primarily be a river runner and should be great for it. Super fun boat. There’s a Swift video on YouTube about one they built for a guy that puts float bags in his and uses it for everything from white water to salt...

Finally got to get out in the Starfire tonight for about 45 minutes. I had limited time so I put in on a local creek, fairly close to where it empties into the Mississippi. I don’t use it often because it has so little current it’s almost stagnant and it is not very pretty. But the slow water...

Yep. A lot of guys use weldwood contact cement for them, and that’s what I used for my knee pads. I wasn’t 100% decided on how I wanted my boat trimmed though, so I used an adjustable northwater saddle, long knee pads, and I made the ankle blocks adjustable with strips of 3M dual lock...

I have mentioned in some other threads how kneeling is difficult for me so I mainly do it only in my dedicated whitewater boat, although I do try to practice in my Polaris when I solo it. Both the ankles and knees are painful for me and about 20-30 minutes is all I can stand in the Polaris with...