Paddling Your Outrigger Canoe

One or more paddles is an essential part of your equipment when leaving the shore. Paddling is often necessary to get away from or into the shore and is very useful if your sailing rig has blown away. All of the designs in this book can be comfortably paddled for short distances. Wa’apa is the easiest to handle under paddle power. Its hard chines aid in helping the canoe to track in a straight line. Ulua’s hull is optimized to turn quickly while tacking, and a foot pedal-controlled rudder (Figure 10-6) is recommended for long-distance paddling. T2 can be paddled from either end but is best served by sculling with the steering oar, as shown in figure 2-14.

One of the paddles onboard should have a larger than normal blade area and be able to double as a steering paddle, to replace a damaged rudder or leeboard.