Help with paddle ID?

[MyKneesHurt]

Hello all,
I'm sure this learned community can help me out. I had an odd pair of paddles come my way and I wondered if anyone knew anything about them - they are wooden, glassed bent-shaft paddles, maybe 50" or a bit taller, and are labeled "Cam Paddles" (or maybe "Camp Paddles", with the P doing double duty). They seem hand-made; the handles and throats are similar but clearly different dimensions. The blades are wide and flat, what I would call a Sugar Island shape. They are well-used but in good condition; it looks like the previous owner wrapped some glass around the throat at the top of the blade, presumably because that's a weak point in a wooden bent-shaft. I'm not a bent-shaft user (yet) but they are light and fine enough to look like someone put some real time into them.

I plan to pass them on to someone who uses bent-shafts more than I do, but one of the great things about this forum is that obscure gear tends to be fairly well-known here.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

I own two paddles with the same logo. Here's one:



They are Camp Paddles, made by Al Camp of Otsego, NY. Al made bent shaft paddles from the 1960s until he retired and sold his paddle business to the Fox family in 1996, who continued the business renamed as Fox Worx. The second generation of the Fox family still now continue the business and still make some of Al Camp's paddle designs.

Al was a flat water racer and had a reputation of making the lightest wood bent shafts—this was before carbon paddles—so his paddles were almost standard equipment for the racing community, especially in the northeast.

I was never a racer but I always liked light paddles, so I bought two Camp paddles, the one pictured around 1986 and a second, very short one in 1996 to use with my sea kayak. The dark area on the blade is foam, which is one way Al lightened the paddles. I'm sure he made all wood models too and with different blade shapes, which is what you seem to have.

 

[MyKneesHurt]

Thank you Glenn. I knew someone around here would know what they were.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

My pictured Camp paddle just happens to be decorating my bedroom, which is probably why I haven't used it in years. It's 48" long and weighs 16 ounces. I hope to go paddling locally tomorrow and I'm definitely going to use it.

 

[yknpdlr]

The family son, Andy Fox, worked as an Adiondack BSA guide and instructor with me for a few short years, then he went to work making canoes for Placid Boatworks in Lake Placid. I raced in the 90 miler with him a couple of times. After he got tired of breathing the resin fumes at PB, he moved on to I don't remember where. Personally I never really cared for the flat square tip paddle, although I do have one that I never use.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

The family son, Andy Fox . . . . he moved on to I don't remember where.

"The rest of the story." — Paul Harvey

Andy Fox and his wife Mary are currently the second generation owners of Fox Worx Paddle Sports.

Our Story — FoxWorx Paddles

www.foxworxpaddle.com

 

[fox worx paddle]

@MyKneesHurt @Glenn MacGrady Love these photos of your original Camp Paddles! I just updated our profile for Canoe Tripping and wanted to hop in here and say hello. We still use Al Camps original design for our "Camp Standard" paddle so it's cool to see some originals to make sure I'm keeping up the quality. Hope you have a good paddling season and get out on the water this summer!
- Andy Fox

 

[stripperguy]

I had a pair of Al Camp paddles (not Campaddles) that I bought from an indoor garage sale at RPI in, uhmm, 1978?, 1979? I dunno...
They were some of the final stock left from Andy's Sporting Goods, a really good outdoor equipment store that was closing up shop. BTW, they were the only Sawyer dealer in the capital district (Albany, NY) at the time.
Those paddles were $25 each, and both MDB and I loved them. Both eventually began to delaminate, and I used them as a pattern when I started making my own paddles in 1988. MDB surprised me with a replacement paddle that had a Mad River Canoe sticker on it, but it was clearly an Al Camp paddle.
Anyway, here is a not so great pic showing the Al Camp paddle, sort of, Forked Lake 1985.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Anyway, here is a not so great pic showing the Al Camp paddle, sort of, Forked Lake 1985.

SG, what's the story with the bent seat?

 

[stripperguy]

That was the maiden voyage of my 17 ft stripper.
It weighed 37 lbs at birth, And was a very fast and versatile hull.
The build was nearly done on that first trip, I finished lacing the bow seat by the campfire on the first night.
Unfortunately, I installed and laced that bow seat upside down, so the mortise joint failed quickly, to MDB’s surprise.
We still laugh about it 40 years later…