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about paddle book's author

picture of hand made custom paddles

August 7, 2023 Jeff Bach here. I own wavetrainSUP and quietwater paddles, two companies that are all about building custom wood paddles and providing wood paddle building kits. Years ago, I managed to write a version 1 of a paddle building book. As most know who do virtually ANYTHING, a version 1 almost ALWAYS begets a version 2, and that is what this website aims to provide and support!


Wood and water are two of my favorite things. Add in white pine, and living in a ‘W’ state like Wisconsin, seems like a good fit. It wasn't always like this though. Back in the day, I was a guide in the BWCA, taking small groups on week-long canoe trips. The ‘number’ lakes, along with Hudson, Insula, and Alice, east of Ely on the Echo Trail, were my favorite lakes.


Those canoe trips in the BWCA, along with a roommate while I was going to UMD, proved to be the gateway for several summers in Oregon and Idaho guiding whitewater rafting trips. The Main and Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho were my apex water years. Finally, graduation happened from the University of Montana in Missoula and the next chapter started, but those fabulous, amazing summers with paddles and oars in hand remain some of my favorite memories.


The years are piling up now, as they often do, and I find myself with a wife, three kids, a house and a little dog. Living in flyover country, no less. A bunch of years have gone by in a blink. We're still here, in the middle of the country atop the craton, dodging tornados and perched above the high water line, a few minutes from Lake Kegonsa. Long paddling summers and life in the Central Time Zone are turning out OK.


Happy paddling!