Lendal vs. AT bent shaft notes

-- Last Updated: Jun-08-08 10:10 PM EST --

REI finally delivered the Lendal bent shaft I ordered some time ago, a week after I had already decided that I do not want it...

I was of course curious to check it out so I took it out of the box. The bent shaft appears just a hair thicker (in terms of the material of the pipe) than the straight shaft I have, hence it is probably a little stronger and a little heavier. Not sure if this is by design or just manufacturing tolerance.

I was most interested to see where the bends are and how they compare to the AT Xception SL paddle I got. As others have said, the AT paddle is different from the Lendal crank shaft. Here are the basic differences I noticed:

- The AT and the Lendal seem to have the same angle of the first bend relative to the central part of the shaft.

- The Lendal has a sharper angle on the second bend, where the AT pretty much continues in almost parallel way to the center shaft towards the ends. This means that on the AT I can spread my arms wider, and it acts as a straight shaft, where on the Lendal I have to keep my hands in the "correct" and more narrow position or I get my outside fingers in a very unnatural over-reach position if I try to hold it at the outside corner of the bend.

- The AT has a longer inner part of the bend

- The AT is oval and both left and right hands enjoy the same wider and oval hand-grip area. The Lendal is round, with some added width taped under the control arm's area and only on one side.

- On the AT I can have my hands spread-out more than on the Lendal and still be on the inner bend.

Of course it is a personal preference, but to me the AT paddle's bend feels more natural and offers more options for placing my hands than the Lendal. The WW AT paddle shafts feel even better to me, as they seem to have a thicker shaft (or may be my Xception is a "small" shaft - I do not know but it feels a little thinner than the WW models I handled in stores).

Hope this may be helpful to someone, and keep in mind that I did not actually try the Lendal on the water - I just thought that the sharp bend will create problems for me when I want to hold the paddle wider, which I have noticed I tend to do with the AT paddle on occasion.

Since you don’t want the Lendal…
I could probably take it off your hands for you.



Seriously, thanks for the information. I would like to hear your thoughts once you get both paddles in the water.

I have been considering bent shafts, and have heard such good things about the Lendal.

I’ve always liked the
AT bent shaft paddles better than the Lendal.



Only problem is, you can get a 4 piece paddlok from lendal.


REI

– Last Updated: Jun-09-08 9:09 AM EST –

The shaft is going back to REI, but I still have the Nordkapp blades (CF) available if interested. I think I will keep the straight shaft and get a set of plastic Kinetic blades and keep as spare or for use by other family members.

May be on the water it will be different and I'm pretty much sure some will like the Lendal better, but I have hardly anything I don't like on the AT paddle. As it is, I simply do not see why I would want to "burry" the $140 carbon bent shaft as a spare, where I can "get by" with a $70 carbon straight shaft that is lighter and more compact -;)

It is just as much a money issue for me now - sold my Tsunami 145 and the Cobra sit on top and looking to get a new touring along the lines of Tempest 170 or similar so I'm counting my pennies and I need a new WW paddle more than I need a spare touring... You probably guessed right if you though I'm getting the AT4 att his time as WW - affordable and it feels great in the hand, just a little heavy, but seems strong (the AT2 SL would be nice, but is too much $$$ that I do not know if it will be justified for this my very early beginner's effort to learn WW).

Yup
The 4-piece padlock works very well and, especially with a straight carbon shaft is so light and compact that I hardly know it’s there.



Just about the only thing I do not like, or partially do not like (I’ll explain) on the AT is that the shaft is glosy and very smooth. On one hand it means, that it has little friction and creates very few problems holding it over the long run in terms of skin bruises etc. The same smoothness I found is not good if I happen to wipe my sweaty forehead during an intense paddle and then try to brace and do other active paddling in lively water - it becomes too slippery for a while. Perhaps I need to try to wrap it with something and see if my hands still like it…

Slip on shaft
I wrapped the shaft on my control hand with Magic Wrap; It works well ,have used it on a 5 hour day with no issues.

paddle wax
or sex wax are what I use on my carbon fiber paddles to make them tacky.



I would try that.



Never heard of magic wrap?.. what is it?

Use a little surf wax
on the shaft and your slippery gig will be no more.