Review: Grey Owl Freestyle Paddle
by Rich Furman (with Thanks to Morgan MacBain for a wonderful birthday)

It was a chilly day in Duluth, near the beginning of May, and Morgan and I were browsing in the Duluth Pack store. We were browsing, shopping as amusement. They were playing Garcia-Grisman sessions on the CD player. We later walked out sporting new fanny packs and with a special order placed for tandem copies of the Garcia-Grisman CD. I also walked out with a new infatuation.

It started out innocently enough, wandering up and down the aisles, contentedly grooving to tunes that had enriched our lives since Grad School, paying tribute at the much famed Cliff & Susie honeymoon pack, and then Morgan had to leave me for a time. I wandered into a forest of blonde wood, where Bending Branches met my gaze and Grey Owls perched above. I reached and plucked a paddle. Reminiscences of the Fugs’ album title: "it crawled into my hand . . . Honest." Morgan returned to find me in thrall as I stood there in the middle of the showroom floor palm rolling a 56" grey owl freestyle paddle. "I think I’m in love," I told her, and she was not jealous. In fact, she encouraged me to bring it home, but alas, a paddle was not in the budget of this tightly budgeted trip. Having caught a glimpse of paradise, I found I must leave it behind.

A fortnight later, another birthday barreling toward me like the possessor of the light at the end of the tunnel, Morgan endeavored, by all manner of womanly wiles and female cunning to tease from me what sort of gift might please me. Not being an utter cad myself, I frugally bestowed upon her many subtle and diverse hints. Here is a transcript of the conversation of Morgan, the wily and cunning, and Rich, the subtle and clever:

M: So, what shall I get you for your birthday?

R: A Grey Owl freestyle paddle, 56" or some palm-pilot software from a company whose URL I will try to remember to E-Mail you.

The URL never reached her inbox. Computers are such fitful, unreliable wretches - it had never left my outbox. I hate it when infrastructure crumbles. It had never left my fingers. And so another "computer problem" is revealed to be human error . . . or perhaps intent. What can I say? The paddle just seemed more "right." I knew that it seemed so to Morgan as well, and I did not intend to confuse the point by showing enough interest in the software to send the URL.

After searching high and low, we found me such a paddle at Hoigaard’s. After paddling with it on calm lakes, and in a stiff breeze, I knew it was the paddle I’d been needing for quite some time. Wielding it, I was able, even in a headwind, to put the boat’s nose where I wanted it, and I had plenty of paddle face to move the boat forward. With its thin edges, underwater recoveries were smooth and silent.

The broad paddle face that gives it so much power in the water also means I have to feather it in the wind, lest the wind try to take it from me. The oiled grip is a nice touch, if a little big for my hand, but this is something easily cured with a palm sander.

All in all I like this stick so much that I no longer use my bending branches, and would recommend it for anyone looking for a great straight shaft paddle.