C-Forum

Four choices for whitewater use.

wood is good !

TGG!

touch wood

I'm sportin' wood.

Wood shaft.

I don't get the glass shaft wood blade combo's....

You can't beat the good old Glass Werner Bandit, As much as I love my Mitchell Premier, the bandit remains my day to day paddle.

I really don't understand the Half and Half paddles...
Wood paddles are nice to use, tough as old boots, warmer in the hands and pretty;
Composite paddles are cheap as chips, tougher than old boots, lighter, and easily available everywhere.
But combo paddles are expensive special order items with a comparatively fragile join, and have uneven weight distributions....

a woody is good

All this talk of Catherine Bach has gone to paddlers heads

what ever is cheapest ... would love to be paddling creeks and everything with a Riverstyx paddle but currently use an old werner that i picked up at GAF for next to nothing

So what selection do you make in the poll for a carbon-shaft, carbon-covered wood blade, a la Mitchell? All synthetic?

milkman wrote:So what selection do you make in the poll for a carbon-shaft, carbon-covered wood blade, a la Mitchell? All synthetic?

I'm going to bet that if the carbon covered wood paddles go in "All Wood"... then carbon covered wooden blades with carbon shafts go in "wood blade - Carbon shaft"

I've used synthetic paddles since I started paddling, and still do. last year I got a Sawyer canyon guide (probably cheap to some of you guys) but I am really starting to like the wooden paddle.

huh..huh.. we said wood!

For what Im looking for. synthetic is by far the best option.


Did the whole wooden stick thing with hockey... and I would just break them. At least with composite I could replace the blade...

With canoeing, quality wooden sticks are just too much money to justify spending. You can get the same performance with a synthetic option, that is much cheaper. And you dont have to worry about breaking that "$250" paddle.

If u use wood because of the relief the flex gives to ur shoulder... there are plenty of synthetic options that offer shoulder and elbow relief.

I have yet to find a syntetic paddle that has the same flex and feel of a good wooden stick and that lasts.
All the nice sythetics are too stiff for me. The inexpensive composite paddles just aren't worth it in the long run. A I wore a Bandit out in 1/2 a season, whereas a Backlund or Riverstyx lasts me 3 before it needs a rebuild. And they feel so much nicer, too.

TGG!