AquaBound paddle durability

ian123 · Post by **ian123** » Fri Sep 10, 2010 7:52 pm

Snap and power are way different.

ian123 · Post by **ian123** » Fri Sep 10, 2010 8:12 pm

Power is a product of force and distance and I don't know what "snap" is.
I appreciate that the flex in a hockey is critical for a fast, powerful shot but I guarantee that some energy is lost. It probably has to do with how the energy is transferred to the puck????

gumpy · Post by **gumpy** » Fri Sep 10, 2010 8:28 pm

it has to do with the puck being solid and water being fluid, wanting to move out of the way of the paddle blade. i think.

Lengthy · Post by **Lengthy** » Sat Sep 11, 2010 1:27 am

Nothin beats a high quality wooden stick.
FullGnarlz maybe you'd be better off using a hockey stick rather than a paddle. It may suit your style better.

philcanoe · Post by **philcanoe** » Wed Sep 15, 2010 4:19 pm

Doesn't anyone use a rudder component to their stroke... like maybe at the start or maybe at the end or during an underwater recovery.... a Perk stroke would be useless... and as for stating number of years, that's could be less than a single one for some folks. As for power-n-flex snapping back - that's all fine and dandy; however at the end certainly does your 'catch phase' no good... and when that boof stroke is a must, it's a mighty small consolation to get that flex back once in the air (opps). There's a place to save money, but a paddle is not one... after all... besides the boat - your paddle is your only point of contact with the water...hopefully. A couple hundred dollars for a good paddle is mighty cheap insurance... or hasn't anyone heard of being up the creek without a paddle.

Craig Smerda · Post by **Craig Smerda** » Wed Sep 15, 2010 4:33 pm

philcanoe wrote:Doesn't anyone use a rudder component to their stroke... like maybe at the start or maybe at the end or during an underwater recovery.... a Perk stroke would be useless... and as for stating number of years, that's could be less than a single one for some folks. As for power-n-flex snapping back - that's all fine and dandy; however at the end certainly does your 'catch phase' no good... and when that boof stroke is a must, it's a mighty small consolation to get that flex back once in the air (opps). There's a place to save money, but a paddle is not one... after all... besides the boat - your paddle is your only point of contact with the water...hopefully. A couple hundred dollars for a good paddle is mighty cheap insurance... or hasn't anyone heard of being up the creek without a paddle.

Paddling boats where there isn't room for a spare stick to bring along apparently both taught us the same lesson.

Post by **sbroam** » Wed Sep 15, 2010 4:37 pm

I read a quote somewhere from an instructor lamenting how folks would drop boo coo bux on a boat then paddle w/a Carlisle, he equated it to putting cheap tires on a sports car.

philcanoe · Post by **philcanoe** » Wed Sep 15, 2010 5:14 pm

Rather the Carlyle than a AB... no seriously!

kslund · Post by **kslund** » Wed Sep 15, 2010 6:17 pm

My brand spanking new fiberglass aquabound edge broke the very first time I had it on the water. Went over in a rapid, set up to roll, started by hip-snap and craaacckkk! Shaft broke in two pieces. Didn't hit a rock or anything like that, just the force of rolling caused it to break. Obviously it was a manufacturer defect (you could see bubbles in resin in the inside of the shaft) but I had a really hard time getting it replaced. The paddle shop claimed that the manufacturer didn't want to honor the warranty - although I had heard good thing about AB customer service so I sort of wonder if the shop just didn't want to deal with it. I eventually did get it replaced after much bitchin and moanin. But now it hangs in my garage, except for the rare times my wife wants to paddle our lake canoe.

Definitely soured my feelings to AB paddles - I doubt I'll ever buy one again. That said, a lot of my buddies use the carbon version and seem to have had good luck.