I like having control over my paddle. I like to know when pulled upon, the resulting action is going to be automatic not delayed. I don't want
my paddle to dictate timing of the stroke, especially during the catch phase (which is when a lot of my correction takes place). When I push outward on a sliding underwater recovery, I want to feel rock solid resistance in the blade. I want the blade to feel near solid with flex mainly in the shaft. And while some may consider it minutia to want to know exactly where and when power is being transmitted, the lag-in-response time can be just a little wee-bit-too late when I'm posed on critical edge (Yes - tried this paddle). While a lot of this is what I have become accustomed to; however it simply doesn't happen when switching between other paddles. (
this is what flimpsy meant to me)
And most importantly I want to have complete trust in my paddle, to not worry about it failing when the going gets tough. Because in these smaller boats I carry a break down (in pieces) under a airbag, unlike larger boats where a full sized spare can be grabbed with relative ease.
Yes - that was a lot of I's, which was used to indicate just that.... this is just my opinion about how it feels in my boat. And not necessarily to say what you may want to feel in your boat.
FullGnarlzOC wrote:phil - your talking about the ones with the metal shaft right?
when I had my AB ripped out of my hand in the Room of Doom at UG last year.... I went creeking shortly after - and had to result to using a '52 inch Carlisle paddle...on 2 Class V+ first OC1 descents... that was scary - those blades are rather small...I don't recommend paddling class V with one lol - im sure u have had similar experience at some point and time
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Tommy- in my experience it's not the size (insert
) of the paddle, it's the amount of grip that it provides. Some manufacturers make their blades a bit wider, some a bit more spooned, and some a little longer... all in a effort to get 'that' feel. To me it's about how much pull you can get, and that's not always apparent when comparing size alone. So
maybe it was lack of length (52"), and not blade size that you missed most in your test, as you were not applying power in the accustomed manner or location. Doug Wellman used to make squirt paddles with blades about the size of soup bowl, and a lot of people claimed they had incredible holding/pulling power ???
And remember size of the blade affects stroke rate, so there are indeed trade off's with surface area. Less I fail to mention, flex will vary with location of the bottom hand on the shaft. With perhaps less apparent shaft flex when the blade is gripped nearer the blade (or throat). Which may apply to this paddle, as well as to the other one being mentioned.
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