Patrick Moore Cue paddles

[gumpus]

I don't see a serial number on my paddle. The archived pages say it's on the side of the shaft above the blade. Nothing is there.

Oh well. My gray one is #287 but it's not on the leftovers list. It's easier to trace the history on the wood ones. I bet Dave Curtis has some relevant knowledge since the Hemlock site had a pic of him using a wood cue.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

I don't see a serial number on my paddle. The archived pages say it's on the side of the shaft above the blade. Nothing is there.

Oh well. My gray one is #287 but it's not on the leftovers list. It's easier to trace the history on the wood ones. I bet Dave Curtis has some relevant knowledge since the Hemlock site had a pic of him using a wood cue.

No, I have don't have any numbers or letters of any kind.

My cue came from the estate of Bob Man. I never met the man, but he certainly had a huge inventory of the finest, most historical and most expensive canoes and paddles ever made in the last 60 years. Maybe he had Patrick Moore make something custom for him without a serial number. Of maybe he just didn't want inked numbers on his paddles. He took the label off his straight ZRE with symmetrical grip that I bought, or ordered it without the loud ZRE label.

He did put red and yellow tape on under the grip of many of his paddles, at least on the two composite ones I bought and many of the others I saw. I was going to remove the tape, but I've decided to leave it on. An outstanding canoeman put that tape on for reasons known unto himself, and it will stay there in his honor.



Almost forgot, @gumpus, you say your paddle is gray but there is no such color mentioned on the color pages of Pat's archived website. Is yours not Atlantic Blue?

 

[gumpus]

No, I have don't have any numbers or letters of any kind.

My cue came from the estate of Bob Man. I never met the man, but he certainly had a huge inventory of the finest, most historical and most expensive canoes and paddles ever made in the last 60 years. Maybe he had Patrick Moore make something custom for him without a serial number. Of maybe he just didn't want inked numbers on his paddles. He took the label off his straight ZRE with symmetrical grip that I bought, or ordered it without the loud ZRE label.

He did put red and yellow tape on under the grip of many of his paddles, at least on the two composite ones I bought and many of the others I saw. I was going to remove the tape, but I've decided to leave it on. An outstanding canoeman put that tape on for reasons known unto himself, and it will stay there in his honor.

View attachment 151224

Almost forgot, @gumpus, you say your paddle is gray but there is no such color mentioned on the color pages of Pat's archived website. Is yours not Atlantic Blue?

Yes my one cue is gray. I aced Whirlpool's color acuity test which is unusual for a male so I'm confident on this point. Are you sure yours is blue?

Unlike the rest of us, Bob Man was an eccentric, opinionated paddler. He was proud of his certification as a freestyle teacher and on his death bed he was telling me that "our name has chsnged" (from ACA to whatever). He was for sure a collector to a degree that makes me take a step back and try to understand how he got so much pleasure from owning but not using all that gear. He had a quiet lake in his back yard and a garage full of mostly never used boats. I think he was a self-confessed hoarder; when he found a piece of clothing he liked he might buy out the inventory. He was a character and I regret not reaching out to paddle with him more often.

So speaking of paddle history I'd like to see a close-up of the grip and blade on that straight shaft Zav so I can confirm it's the one Bob got from me. I always order Zavs with no sticker; the advertising is unnatural plus why add a big heavy sticker that hurts balance?

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

So speaking of paddle history I'd like to see a close-up of the grip and blade on that straight shaft Zav so I can confirm it's the one Bob got from me. I always order Zavs with no sticker; the advertising is unnatural plus why add a big heavy sticker that hurts balance?

Sure, but the photos may not be informative, at least not to me because the blade and grip seem generic. Let me put that in the context my my two ZRE paddles next to each other in the photo already shown. I bought the 57" one in 2012 and the 53" one from the Bob Man collection this year.



Both have Bob Zaveral's original Z blades with symmetrical faces. The Man paddle is 53" long, weighs 12.9 ounces, and has a blade width of 8.75". For at least 20 years, Z blades wider than 8.5" are called outrigger paddles by ZRE. Both of my straight ZRE paddles have symmetrical grips of the exact same symmetrical shape, except the Man grip finish is slightly less glossy. Bob Zaveral told me when I bought my 57" straight in 2012 that the symmetrical grip he had for me was not a ZRE manufacture, but rather the very last symmetrical carbon grip he had acquired from the Barton Paddles inventory when Barton Paddles went out of business.

In any event, here are two shots of the grip, rotated 90°, and one of the blade.







By the way, the Man 53" ZRE all symmetrical Z paddle, with the red/yellow tape below the grip and no ZRE stickers, was at Ken Kelly's table at the WCHA Assembly. There was another Man 53" ZRE all symmetrical Z paddle also there, which had no red/yellow tape, no prominent "ZRE" sticker but a small, triangular, silver ZRE standard sticker on the other face just below the shaft. It was bought at Assembly by Manon Paquet-Satrape. I bought the taped Man ZRE a couple of months later from @NoelCanoeDad (Dustin Noel) because I wanted a shorter ZRE straight and didn't want to cut down my 57 incher.