More paddle questions...

[sean]

I have to say the aquabound is a great paddle for the money.I have two of them, one carbon and the other glass. The glass is my take apart for oc1, the carbon my c1 paddle. I like them both, I have actually beat the living crap out of both of these paddles in my boney local river so I disagree with a previous post about aquabounds being no good for shallow water. However, if they had both broken I would probably be in the same boat as the posters who have broken one. Joe matuska(sp?) the owner of aquabound is a great guy, if you break one of these he will replace it. That said, I don't use the aquabound much because I primarily oc1 paddle, and use as my main paddle, a super old school perception paddle, it's all glass and has served me well. I am looking for a new oc1 paddle. I have my eye on several really nice ones. I really like mitchells, probably a wood shaft carbon blade would be the way to go, for the flex and all. As for the werners, I don't know, they seem really nice, but as others have said they sorta start to fall apart, yet not fail. Essentially everone I have seen on the river had a bunch of little pieces missing along the edge, and the owners didn't seem super excited about it. For the price I'd just get the aquabound. However you paddle deep water you said, so the werner might not be so bad. I also really like the waterstick paddles. They slice forward sorta awkwardly, for c1 but you get used to it. Tons of purchase on the water. Those echo paddles look really nice, but for that sorta money I'd probably just buy a mitchell. Ok, thats my long winded answer. also alden if you read this I feel your pain, I wouldn't want to miss my line punching phils or threading the needle. I really like running the meat of phils it's an awesome view from a phantom

[Sir Adam]

If you do a search for "paddles" you'll get MANY items returned....there are almost as many opinions on paddles as paddlers (which considering our "unique" orientation, isn't too surpising I guess).

Anyway, I've seen and heard of a lot of paddles breaking, and at this point I firmly believe you get what you pay for. Cheap paddle-will last for a year or more, depending on usage. Expensive paddle-will last longer, and manufacturer is MUCH more likely to stand behind it. Mitchell is GREAT that way from what I've heard-they are a fair deal as far as original price goes, but if you ever need it repaired (5-10 years down the road) the repair prices on their paddles are an exceptional deal. (I have no experience with this, as my Mitchell is about 2 years old, but I have spoken with a number of people who have).

My old Schlegal was a great paddle, and light, but wouldn't have put up to the use some give their paddles (J. NOT Elvis ). My latest paddle though I have high hopes for-it's almost as light as the schlegal, and seems bomber. What is it? Rough Stuff Savage C1. Cheap? Nope. Especially with the current exchange rate. BUT, they have images of chopping firewood with the kayak version...and I believe it. Plastic impregnated carbon fiber is wonderful stuff:).

Echo paddles also feel really nice in the water.

Galasport has a super-light stick as well.


Has anyone tried any of the ZRE paddles yet? The new Harold Deal designed one looks sweet!....

[Mike W.]

For whitewater, I love my Mitchell. I've got the Premier, with wood shaft, carbon covered spoon blade. I have really abused this stick & it's amazing.

Adam, I use ZRE's for racing flatwater. I have a medium weight & an outrigger power surge light. They are extremely light (10oz.). It's amazing how the lack of weight picks up your stroke rate. I used my outrigger paddle at the WWOCD Nationals last year & it's not as pretty now. The whitewater blade has a heavier layup than the flatwater & outrigger blades do. I have not tried the new power curve yet, but I'm sure it's a great paddle.

[Don Williams]

Might as well throw my $02.00 in, it can't conflict any more than everyone else's. I switched to a spoon blade about four years ago and feel the benefits in paddling far outweigh the slightly more difficult roll. I paddle a C-1, some paddlers of (large) OC-1s don't feel as dramatic a difference. BTW, I think what we call "spoon" blades are technically only curved. They used to build some kayak paddles with a true spoon blade, using a concave curve in both width and length, but they had a reputation for diving when used in braces or rolling. Most kayak paddles are curved now and many/most have dihedral on the power face.

My first spoon blade paddle was a Lightning and I was fairly happy with it. Its problem, which it shares with the Werner Bandit, is that with no tip insert the inside corner of the blade wears severely. After a while on the rivers of New England it had worn away so much that it could no longer stand upright.

This isn't as big a problem with symmetrical blades, the corners on both sides just gradually get more rounded. Even the old heavyweight paddles like the Illiad would have this happen so I don't think there is any solution other than an insert.

My main paddle now is an all carbon Mitchell that has held up very well and is extremely light. It has an aluminum insert and the blade hasn't rounded at all. The main drawback for you would be price. I don't use it for creeking since I have seen (rarely) a carbon shaft completely shatter.

My creeking paddle is the Werner Bandit, which I feel is roughly comparable to the Lightning. It probably isn't any stronger than the Mitchell but is (I hope) less likely to have a total failure. I like the feel a bit more than the Lightning and it seems lighter. The blade has rounded a bit but is still ok, although it doesn't get that much use.

I've only used an Aqua-bound once a few years ago when swapping paddles on a river. My main gripe about it was much more resistance when doing an underwater recovery, such as on a cross forward, compared to the other paddles. At the time it was a fair bit cheaper than the Werner/Lightning and the design may have changed.

I haven't used a Galasport paddle but know some folks that love them.