2 wing paddles have snapped at the blade-shaft joint while paddling at 100% sprint power to catch a wave. One did not completely separate and I repaired it.
I also delaminated a carbon canoe paddle by taking a hard stroke on a sneaky sandbar / shallows. This was repairable.
I also cracked the shaft of a carbon canoe paddle by doing a hard draw right into the boat. This was a dumb move on my part. Also repaired without much trouble.
Basically you will break paddles in open water with strength or a brace. In shallow water they’ll break from ground contact with power behind it. On land you’re most likely to step on them or have something heavy land on them.
aluminum shaft and plastic blade, think it was a Carlisle ? got it second hand and no branding visible. It worked for 3-4 years, then was paddling hard to try to get up onto a surf wave, and it snapped in two a couple inches above my bottom hand…
luckily I had a spare secured to the deck behind me, was able to get it out before flipping in the hole downstream… but it was a busy minute.
I fly my folding kayaks to places and paddle there. I check it in as luggage, then pick up and go to my destination. Coming back from one of such expeditions, I noticed a big tire print on the kayak bag… meh, I thought to myself, they must have put it on top of the wheel, that’s what happened.
To my surprise, both the frame and the paddle had been damaged. The frame was bent a little (fixed), but the paddle was broken. They must have run over the bag with a truck or something.
I only found out the paddle was broken when I was went on another trip, in the middle of the lake. What a bummer!
