Quick Poll on Paddles

[tennOC]

That Dagger was made by Steve Scarborough at his shop in Long Creek, SC in the early to mid eighties. He made me one that says Milt on it (my middle name) that's 55 inches. My wife has claimed it and still uses it.

[pyc1]

I have two Clinch River wood/composite paddles that are about 15 years old. Broke one on Big Creek in the Smokies back in the 90s- Bailey repaired it and it's still going strong. Can't remember the last time I paddled with anything but wood, but I do have a few RPG plastic paddles around. Those blades are a little big, but they are OK.

[Cheeks]

I have one of those old Norse guide sticks. It's cool because, if I ever wrap my boat, I can use the paddle to chop down trees and carve me another one.

[marclamenace]

Wood also does it best for me: I can take the little extra weight for the resulting toughness and better overall feeling. Echo paddles on the brighter (more expensive) side and grey owl's hammerhead on the cheaper version.

Grey owl does a great flat blade hammerhaed all-wood at half the price of a bandit!

[the great gonzo]

my preferred blade right now is the rivrstyx (Jim Snyder), particularly for playing and squirting. Super smooth, cuts through thew water like butter, nice flex, not too hard on the joints, good power for such a small blade. I dont really miss the big blade surface from the H20 team I used to use, overall I feel I am still as fast, the reduction in power is compensated by the increased stroke rate this blade allows.
When i first saw it i was a bit worried about the small blade and the fact that it is a non-curved blade, but in fact, don't miss either the big surface not the curve.

The Aquabound paddles are good paddles, they are probably the best value for the dollar near their price point. I only broke one, and that incident would have broken just about any paddle (it broke my shoulder).
I still have a one-piece that I keep around as backup and a 3-piece as my spare that will fit any boat I ever paddled.
Yes, they flex more than others, but, unless one races, i don't see it as that big of an issue, I actually like some paddle flex, it protects my joints and keeps tendonitis away.

TGG!

[Jim Michaud]

Mitchell all carbon. Srongest and lightest paddles that I've ever owned.

The worst paddles I've ever owned is anyting with an aluminum shaft. I've had many aluminum shafts snap in half near the blade.

[philcanoe]

Thanks Cadster, was wondering if I'd be defiling something cool if I was to cut it down to size and put a differnt T grip on it.

Dagger paddles was some (or several) combination of Keith Backlund (later of Blacklund paddles), Brandy Lesan (Pothole paddles), and Steve Scarbrough (later of... Dagger), among others. So, I'd say it's probably it's a cool piece of paddling history, though I don't think making it something you could use would be considered "defiling."

RE: Dagger paddle ... Word was - their quality was depending on who was building at the time, some were super fine and some lifeless POSticks (pretty owlful).

I personally prefer the carbon covered Mitchell wood paddles for all round use, and would rather fight than have to use a non-wood shafted paddle in winter. The majority of those listed here are good paddles, except for those Werner Bandits. These sticks have zero feel, with a completely round shaft, and plastic tee-grip (WT_). I believe they wouldn't even be considered by most, if it were not for their cost. With a waver thin blade, they flutter on underwater recovery to the point of being irritating. And for me - they to tend to make my shoulder hurt with their inflexibility. Of course there is that little matter, of liking what you've become accustomed to. This all may sound harsh, but for a company which makes such 'a fine line' of kayak paddles, they seem to have forgotten to ask canoe'ers what's required to make a paddle good or desirable. I will give them a thumbs-up on durability, for they do seem to last.

All of the GalaSport paddles are (or seem) really really nice, as are the Mitchell all carbon... but carbon shafts and creeking don't really mix well together in my experience. And after breaking two different carbon shafted paddles on different multi-day wilderness trips, I'd caution like Poe's crow (never-more) against their place in this type of setting.

Like it is with most every thing, a whole lot of what you'll settle on is personal taste and experience. This is especially true when it comes to degree of flexibility, for some may not even want any at all. When it comes to mediocre paddles I'd just as soon use a Carlyle raft paddle (and have), than some of the higher priced ones which have no give, less feel, or an gargantuan shaft.

[xmas0c1c1k1]

I find the aquabound paddles to be terrible I hate the way they feel in everyday especially when pushing off rocks and choose a cheap raft paddle over one of those and the blade size seems to be quite large.

Don't know if you ever stated exactly what you will be doing with the paddle if you mainly creek then I think bandits and h2o are the way to go if you are easier on a paddle then you could look into some of the nicer sticks Mitchell gala echo etc.

Just one guys opinion obviously

[Roy]

For several years my favorite all-round paddle has been the Galasport glass-shaft glass-Polart-blade. I use them for low-level slalom racing and all my day-long whitewater paddling. Perfect weight and flex for me. Super smooth recovery. No flutter, ever.

I sold an all wood and all carbon Mitchell because they never left the truck after I stated with the Polart. And, I have a 3M and Rough Stuff which also have not been used in a long time.

I first ran into the glass Galasport in the hands of Mike Campbell. He was very happy with his. I have a number of friends who have them...with only one report of a broken blade. I bought mine from Davey Hearn for $120-130 delivered.

The only time I would use something else is for multi-day wilderness paddling. I have two all-wood Backlunds for that. I have a friend who had the blade of his Mitchell just snap right off the morning of Day 2, during a snow storm, on a 3-week Boundary Creek to Heller Bar run. It was a wood blade/carbon shaft. I broke the shaft of a Backlund once, but stuff like like almost doesn't happen. For backcountry use, I like ash starting at the tip and going all the way to the grip.

Backlund tapered the spruce core of his paddles...not the ash plates. This produced a lot of ash all the way to the tip/grip. That is part of the reason some Mitchells break a couple inches from the tip (all softwood down there). The Mitchell which broke on the Middle Fork had an un-laminated softwood tenon shoved up into the carbon shaft.

The guy with the busted Mitchell had to paddle to Corn Creek with his Carlise plastic/aluminum spare. Fortunately, at corn creek he had a cut-down-white-blade all-glass Perception. Now, there was a paddle.

[Gwyn]

I have paddled with lots of different blades. Have broken a few Mitchells, a Streamlyte (British slalom manufacturer), Schlegel, and an Echo that turned out to be rotting inside.

I have also got very used to replacing aluminium tips on any paddle that has them...

So last year I finally got around to making my own blades. At the moment I have just made a couple for personal use (including a split), but the seem to hold up to NZ steep creeking pretty well. There are a few pictures here;
http://www.shaggydesigns.com/paddles.htm

Gwyn
www.shaggydesigns.com

[Bob P]

When I started serious slalom training in the mid-80s, I was going through 4 Mitchells a year. So, like Gwyn, I decided to build my own composite sticks. I finally came up (after 50 prototypes!) with something that was tough enough and still had the best slice-feel of any paddle. Sold a bunch to slalom racers and cruisers alike.

Then curved blades became popular, and I had to re-tool everything...

My curved blade still has the best feel of any paddle I've tried, but it's a pain to make, and I have run out of spare time. (Could it be the daily hours on spend on the 'net? Naaahh...)

So, the paddle that comes closest to my home-made'ys is the Galasport 3M.

[DougB]

Are the Galasports durable? Do the blades stand up to rocky rivers? Does the 3M have edging around the blade perimiter that others don't?

[Sir Adam]

I've yet to find a paddle that is:

light
great water feel
exceptionally durable in rocky rivers where it will be abused.


Echo, Galasport, Mitchell, and Schlegel (in the past anyway) made some excellent paddles that are light and have great water feel (I'm sure there are others... these are just the one's I've got my paws on)

Rough Stuff, IMhO, makes a great light paddle that is very durable - but the extra thickness that helps with that durability also decreases water feel. Catch is still great, but feathering feels blocky.

I'm going to have to check out one of those Shaggy C-sticks - looks sweet:)

[sbroam]

I've got several paddles, but I keep coming back to a Grey Owl I picked up cheap - it's taken a licking, keeps on ticking, is comfortable in the hands and feels good in the water. It looks like the Hammerhead on their site, but I think the urethane edging comes all the way around the blade.

[ESP]

I have 2 paddles made by Jim Snyder. The squirt stick is 14 years old and the creeking stick is 12 years old. Both of them have only needed to be refinished once since they were purchased. The feel, craftmanship, and durability are unmatched by anything else I have seen on the river. I plan on purchasing a C paddle from him and expect the same attributes.