hey im lookin for some paddle advice i am paddlin a roughstuff kenetic at the mo and to be honest the paddle is getting pretty worn out its a straight shaft paddle and its a good paddle ....but now that im investing in something new im lookin for advice i was thinking of going to a bent shaft so my friend gave me his h2o crank to paddle with and though i found it powerfull i found the crank strange maybe i would get used to it ...im also lookin for something a bit more powerfull than the kinetic had thought about a werner but im from ireland and to get one imported is very exspensive so advice and recomendations please all takin on board....cheers damo

you got the select paddle made in france those paddle are tough, ligthweight and powerfull

look for paddle made in europe like the select, robson,


select-kayaks.com/en/paddles/kayak/

What kind of paddling do you do?

Im a huge fan of my wavedog paddle ( www.wavedogpaddles.com )... If I know Im going to be delivering a good beating to a paddle I dont think twice about which paddle to grab. Althuogh it is wood and a little heavier, the weight melts away once you hit the water

IMO you cant go wrong if youre padding a stick that you can just abuse over and over and never worry about it breaking

Hey Damo,
you can get Werner paddles in Ireland easily enough, I know Munster Dive and Canoe (www.mdac.ie) and i-canoe both stock em. Mark in Munster Dive and Canoe had a pretty big selection in stock last time I was in. There's also plenty of people around paddling with Werners to ask for a demo, certainly if you ever come across me on the water just ask!
I paddled with Roughstuff Blackmagics for years, have a set of Werner Players for about 6 months now aswell, and I'm still undecided as to which I prefer. I prefer the grip on the RS shaft, I find the Werners quite slippy, which means I've to grip them harder and sometimes hurt my hands after a long session, but this could just be because they are newer - I'd hope the shaft will de-slippify as time goes on. Also the Werners certainly do *feel* slightly more powerful. The Werners also feel a lot lighter, which makes them nice to paddle with, but I don't know will they stand up to quite the same level of rockbashing as my Roughstuffs have.
One thing I would ask tho is why you are thinking of switching to crank shaft? They are generally more expensive, and potentially not as strong a shaft - a lot of people switch to alleviate wrist trouble, but if you're not having problems with your current paddles I'd wonder what advantage you expect from the cranks?
Muireann

I like the ophion cyclone- really smooth and heaps of power, available in pretty much any construction you want- see website in my signature ( i'll point out that i am sponsored by them but to be honest wouldn't paddle with them if they weren't any good).

hey muireann how do... it seems alot off paddlers ive met over past two years (which is how long ive been paddlin )paddle with bent shafts including some of the guys i paddle with,so when i questioned them about it they all tell me the same thing the bent shaft is a personal choice really so is there any advantage inthe bent shaft i dont no ,but i went to b.keogh "total exsperience"to buy his crank h2o paddles off him he wasnt that keen to sell me them he was kinda like damo take them away with ya paddle them if you like the crank come back and well sort something but he was recommending werner to me...so question for you now muireann what made you choosethe players i was thinkin along the lines of powerhouses for myself i just want that bit more power in the stroke like today for example paddlin with the h2os the power difference from the kinetics was suprising and the bent shaft youd get used to it very quickly but with no noteable advantage between the bent and the straight only hand placement the grips are great no slip really ...chers damo

the crank shafts DO help your wrists. the younger you start with cranks the better.its wen your older that your wrists feel it. i learnt to paddle with a straight shaft as most people do but when i bought my 1st paddle i decided to go for a crank. the first month was weird but you do get used to it and straight shafts feel weird to me now. as for durability you cant go wrong with a werner. my bro has had his werner spider for years and years. hes run it over with trucks and landrovers. thrown it all over the shop and its still going strong.my local centre has about 6 werners over 6 years old and no problems there. there light powerfull and about the best paddles out there. i know im bigging werner up alot but its because they are the best. get out there and try them all.

sparx wrote:

the crank shafts DO help your wrists. the younger you start with cranks the better.its wen your older that your wrists feel it.

Well, I'm 38 years old now and paddling for over 25 years (competition, polo, a bit of freestyle and recently marathon) so I have seen my share of paddling hours and I completely disagree. <i>Good technique</i> helps your wrists.


Learn to paddle properly and, even more important, listen to your body. If it hurts, you're doing something wrong. If your wrists hurt, learn to paddle without hurting your wrists. If you simply buy a paddle which supposedly prevents injuries you will probably not alter your technique, thus still hurting your own body. In a situation where you paddle a lot more than you are used to (for instance during a paddling holiday) you are very likely to injure yourself again.

And yes, I have tried a pair of crankshafts and I did not like them one bit (I owned a pair for about three months, glad to get back to a straight shaft).

Just my 2 cents,

Cheers,

Michiel

DAMIEN G wrote:so question for you now muireann what made you choosethe players i was thinkin along the lines of powerhouses for myself i just want that bit more power in the stroke

Hey Damo,
the way I understand it, the sidekick / player are the freestyle blades from Werner, and the powerhouse / sherpa are the river running blades. So I guess it depends what type of paddling you intend to do. I do a lot of freestyle and surf, hence went for the freestyle blades, (but obviously I also use em for rivers and they do the job just fine). The reason I have the smaller blade is cos I'm not all that big, and being just a wimpy girl the bigger blades would probably have been overkill for me. A lot of the lads down here in UCC are using sidekicks and players, and I've never heard any complaints...
If you look at systemx catalog there's a list of all the Werner blades / shafts / lengths and feathers available
www.systemxkayak.co.uk-a.googlepages.com/2009Pigletfinal.pdf
I've never paddled bent shaft paddles so can't really help you on that one. Straight shafts are cheaper, stronger and I've no wrist problems (yet anyway!) so never felt the need.
And finally... Keoghser knows what he's talking about so I'd listen to any advice he's willing to give
Hope that's of some use!
Muireann

we spend just about every weekend up in wicklow paddlin up there so thats the kind of paddlin i do like i say only paddlin for two years so annamoe every weekend and an ocassional run on the glenmac is part of my training so the lads tell me anyway hence the thought of the power houses got a run on the source earlier this year and it wrecked my paddle one of the lads had the werner shoguns that day it was wrecked again the day was over he reckons the foam filled blade does not suit irish rivers full stop we do alot of courses and buy a good lot of gear from keoghser hes a good man and always gives solid advice ...lastly WIMPY GIRL i doubt that very much muireann we have a girl paddles with us every time we go out and all the ladies ive met and seen on the river over the past 2 years are well and truly able to hold their own with any one ive paddled with our girl takes pleasure in showing us up evrytime we go out so thanks for the advice and happy paddlin ...damo

in 2009 select will launch the w1 extrem,

it was designed by David Arnaud extrem french paddler, i think if it's made for the french pyrhene creek it's really tough and won't let you down


www.kayakimport.ca/index.php?page=shop.p...art&Itemid=3&lang=en

hey jimb had a look at the select they look like a decent paddle do you have one yourself if so how do you find it

DAMIEN G wrote:

hey jimb had a look at the select they look like a decent paddle do you have one yourself if so how do you find it

i use for one year a select w1 sport paddle 194cm 15deg, and a w1 ultra two pieces it's stiff like a one piece paddle a little added weight with the varilock system

i'm 6'2'' and mainly creek

the paddle hold up the abuse from the creek really well

this year i will change for a selct w1 extrem paddle 196cm 15 deg., the paddle is designed for creeking and got a kevlar-carbon bent that will absorb more the shock


the w1 select sport is a prepeg fiberglass paddle made for river running but when going get tough and you hit and punch rock with your paddle it's better a kevlar-carbon construction

wath i really like about the select is the construction, they won't delaminated and you got a lot of ply in your paddle because of the prepeg construction

selct paddle or more then decent it's a top end paddle

rough stuff are good paddles. My black magic is wearing thin now.
You will get used to crankshafts after a while, my dad did quite well.
I am thinking of a TY warp. But I have heard good things about this new Eddy and it seems that most of the werners are good trustworthy paddles.
This probably didnt help. Maybe stick with a different rough stuff paddle the guys there are really cool.

Hi I have been using a set of Werner sidekicks for the past 10 years and paddled on average once a week. My paddles have taken a right beating and are looking more like squirt sticks now than the original paddle and are starting to show stress lines along the central core.

The paddles are light, responsive, really forgiving on the wrists and feel precise when grabbing for that green water. It is time for me to replace them I think and would say whatever you are going to chose make sure you demo them first. With length, feather, construction, blade shape, crank or straight shafts there are alot of variables.

Like anthing you will get used to what you buy and chnage your paddling to the paddle but why go throygh that if you do not have to.

Andy