May 21, 2014
Sweet Sticks: New Paddles to Get You to the Fish
When Peter Hall cooked up the Butterknife double-bladed SUP paddle, fishing was far from his mind. His problem, though, is a familiar one to anglers who like to fish while standing. Hall wanted a hybrid paddle he could swing while standing or sitting, on the fly, with no extra pieces or assembly required. He succeeded in mad-scientist style.
The look of the Butterknife is decidedly unconventional. A T-grip handle sprouts freakishly from the face of one of the blades. But this is no spork, an unsatisfactory implement of half-measures. Hall’s construction is carefully engineered, a high-end precision tool of glossy carbon fiber and fiberglass. The handle, cradled in the power face, causes no flutter or spin and adds almost no discernible weight. The Butterknife’s beauty is in its wonderful function