Paddles

[Sir Adam]

Paddles
by Brettal

It's about that time for me to think about investing in a serious paddle. Now, I'm not terribly interested at this point in much of anything special, but a nice, basic flat blade. The most recent non-cheapie I used was an ancient paddle made by Dagger (I think?), a model which apparently had a tendency to break apart at the throat (the one I was using had been repaired after this problem). I really liked the feel of this blade in the water, but it was borrowed and had to be returned to the owner. So if anyone can point me at something similar I could actually find in a store these days, that'd be great.

(I'm thinkin' Werner Nantahala maybe? I've only had a chance to look at one, dunno how it feels)

Posted on Sep 23, 2002, 3:20 PM

Lightning Slolam Fiberglass
by Bill W. Bill W.

Probably best bang for the buck. The Werner bandit blade is more durable, but not as powerful. The lightning is more slicey, the blade erodes more if your paddling shallow stuff, but it doesn't break. The shaft is kinda heavy, but you won't break it. It seems as powerful as a carbon Mitchell Premier, has slightly better in water recovery, and I trust it more for banging rocks, at much lower cost. My Mitchell has an aluminum tip that seems to be coming unglued from impacting unseen rocks, I'm not sure if it will just fall out or wedge up and split the blade. I don't want to find out, so I'm saving it for deeper water.

The new Waterstick carbon paddle has more bite and the blade seems more durable, but in water recovery isn't as balanced and the shaft does not like rocks at all, I put a small blister in mine clipping a rock as I rolled up the second day I used it, and I'm afraid its more terminal than it looks. I think they made a bad mistake putting a shaft that brittle on a whitewater paddle. The shaft on my lightning has taken some severe hits blocking my face from rocks while getting dumped, and the worst damage is a white line where the blue gelcoat got scraped off.

The carbon Aquabound is decent, almost as powerful and less slicey than the Werner, but their regular layup is a spongey waste of enery IMO.

I've never paddled a staight blade, and I'm spending way too much time paddling shallow stuff. My blade is in regular contact with something bad for it and the shaft clips something quite often. I own all the paddles I mentioned except the carbon Aquabound, and if your in deeper water all would last a long time. Right now the only one I'd buy again is the Lightning, preferrably with a beefed up tip. The Waterstick with a more impact resistant shaft would make an excellent paddle, a little flutter but less weight, more power, and good durability.

Posted on Sep 23, 2002, 7:22 PM