compact oar storage?

Cavi

Cavi

Member
I know most will probably say they never carry an oar, but the lake I sail on is very shifty and it can go from 12 knots to 2 in a blink of an eye, you can go out at 8am with great wind, sail for 2 hours and all of a sudden it is glass. So I always carry a collapsible paddle. In my Raider I strap it to the back of the hiking strap, but it seems to be cumbersome anywhere in the cockpit of my laser. I would not carry it on race days but on normal fun days I would like to have it. Ideas of how or where to store it?
 
Bungee it to the base of the mast? You're not tripping over it in the cockpit, but it's there if you need it.
 
Cavi said:
I know most will probably say they never carry an oar, but the lake I sail on is very shifty and it can go from 12 knots to 2 in a blink of an eye, you can go out at 8am with great wind, sail for 2 hours and all of a sudden it is glass. So I always carry a collapsible paddle. In my Raider I strap it to the back of the hiking strap, but it seems to be cumbersome anywhere in the cockpit of my laser. I would not carry it on race days but on normal fun days I would like to have it. Ideas of how or where to store it?
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If you stand in front of the mast and rock the boat you would probably get home faster.
E
 
I use a Praddle. It's attached to the deck roughly where the mast step is with hook & loop fabric.
Out of the way :)
 
I've seen Andyatos' videos he has one tied on the foredeck- one end to the bow eye and the other to the mast.
 
cskudder said:
I've seen Andyatos' videos he has one tied on the foredeck- one end to the bow eye and the other to the mast.
Click to expand...

Exactly. It's a simple, cheap canoe paddle. One section of very thin black bungee around the bow eye and another thicker loop of bungee around the mast. When you get the bungee tensions just right, the paddle sits completely flat and still and doesn't move around.

All it takes is getting completely shut down with no wind far from home once without a paddle to get you to always bring one. It's amazing how fast you can go with a canoe paddle on a Laser with very little effort. Raise the rudder, leave the centerboard all the way down and sit cross legged on the bow in front of the mast.

With the centerboard all the way down you can do a whole bunch of strokes on one side before you have to switch sides.

- Andy
 
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Lot of folks use these, couple of sticky Velcro pads to rear of cockpit bulkhead ( under the tiller ) keeps it out of the way but close at hand..allows you stay in the cockpit and steer / ready to take advantage of any air in the sail
 
Timely post. I have to get out to open water between some 100'+ docks so I need some means of locomotion also. Pulling the rudder up part way and wagging it only works so well when the winds blowing on shore. Great to learn about the Praddle. Intensity had the best price that I found so I ordered one. Also found a couple wooden versions on ebay but they cost quite a bit more. Thanks!
 
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