Just got my first Sea Kayak. I eventually want to start going on some club paddles and want to be responsible enough to have all my own safety gear. I don’t have a back-up paddle yet. I have a 210cm Werner Shauna and that’s it. As much it would be nice to have a collection of good paddles to choose from for variety and mood, I don’t want to spring for additional $300 paddle(s) right now.
I understand that a $20 box store paddle could just fold up in rough conditions and since the purpose is safety, would be inadequate. I’m not concerned with a paddle that might only be 90% as efficient, not as aesthetically pleasing (cool looking) as my main paddle, but want something that breaks into two pieces and won’t fold up on me when I need it to get me home safely.
I started with a paddle like that. Aluminum shaft and thick plastic blades. It wasn’t ever going to fold up.
Bending Branches made
some decent budget paddles.
For the club paddles, not having a spare paddle isn;t the worst thing. You may look like a noob, but the chances are someone else has one that if you do need you will be able to borrow.
The spare paddle is much more important if you paddle alone…
The normal route is the people don’t choose the best paddle for themselves at first, so they upgrade and turn their first paddle into their spare.
In your case, you do have a good quality paddle to start, so if you got the length and blade size right on your first try such that you don’t think you will need to upgrade, I’d go the route suggested by PaddleDg52 and see if you can find a used paddle.
If you were near NorCal, I have a 220 cm H2O Crystal-X paddle I’d let you have for $75.
@string said:
I started with a paddle like that. Aluminum shaft and thick plastic blades. It wasn’t ever going to fold up.
Bending Branches made
some decent budget paddles.
Have some BB from my sot days I agree heavy but not folding up. Will get you home.
Well yeah, I am checking the local ads and used gear from shops. I got a $275 paddle 20% off with my boat so it was a tad over $200. A different local shop as the same paddle used from their rental fleet for $130. I’d buy it in a heartbeat if it was a 205 as I’d have two slightly different lengths I could switch off. But alas, they only have it in a 210 which I have already.
One thing I’ve found looking at low-end paddles as there aren’t many shorter than 220, likely because they’re for recreational (wide bathtub) kayaks.
Got werner ikelos on eBay for 150.00 205 cm. Couple of light scratches. Others werners I bought new. Takes time to find deals and you need to look daily. You may get lucky.
Austin Kayak has the Werner Baja for $105 (fiberglass, 220 is the shortest) .
Outdoorplay has a Werner Sprite carbon shaft kids paddle at 200 cm for $90 (5 cm difference is less than 1" on each end.) You might get razzed for having a kiddy paddle but it is light and would be nice and compact on the deck – it would get you home in a pinch. My frequent backup paddle is an older Voyageur that has blades similar to that of the Sprite and I rather like it. But then I mostly use a Greenland as a primary paddle so I am not partial to wide blades.
Outdoorplay also has a Carlisle Magic Plus (fiberglass) for $110, but only down to 220 cm.
Agree with buying used paddles. (I let some nice euros go for cheap when I switched to GPs).
Also…I don’t consider my second paddle as a spare. I consider my paddles as ‘high gear’ and ‘low gear’ or ‘downwind’ and ‘upwind’. My paddles have significantly different surface areas for different conditions. You may want to avoid the mindset of ‘good-paddle-plus-crappy-paddle-that-I’ll-never-use’.
@Rex said:
Agree with buying used paddles. (I let some nice euros go for cheap when I switched to GPs).
Also…I don’t consider my second paddle as a spare. I consider my paddles as ‘high gear’ and ‘low gear’ or ‘downwind’ and ‘upwind’. My paddles have significantly different surface areas for different conditions. You may want to avoid the mindset of ‘good-paddle-plus-crappy-paddle-that-I’ll-never-use’.
Agree… My second paddle is a Werner Little Dipper. It has a smaller blade and used in some high wind conditions and where cadence is prefered over power.
You could consider picking up or making a Greenland paddle as your spare. If your front deck is long enough, they sit very nicely within easy reach. I generally paddle with both a cedar GP and a carbon bent-shaft paddle, sometimes use both on a given day.