Any information would be appreciated…
Stumbled onto a bent shaft paddle made by the Wildfire Corp?
Have never seen a paddle made by them; never heard of the company before?
Paddle is a bent shaft, 53 inches in length, with a dark blue shaft,and a grayish/off white colored blade.
On the paddle face is the following printed information:
Native (may be the model of the paddle?)
graphite-epoxy-fiberglas-composite
Wildfire Corp Redmond, Wa.
Light-14
Quality of paddle?
Original retail cost?
Age of paddle?
Company in business when?
Shut down operations when?
Thanks,
BOB
I have exactly the same paddle Bob
And I don’t know any more about it than you do.
I do know that it will not hold up to much abuse, however. The blade edges will chip readily it bashed against rocks or the side of the boat.
I found that the blue color on the shaft and grip was bleeding onto my hands, so I wet sanded it off. Now the whole paddle is gray.
the stright shaft version
I’ve had a straight shaft canoe paddle for 30 years, marked "NATIVE graphite-epoxy-fiberglass composite - Wildfire Corp - Redmond WA USA - Light-ST. I used it for many years of whitewater paddling, including one trip through the Grand Canyon. I bought it for $20 from a friend of a friend who had found it floating down a river somewhere in New England. It’s a little beat up, and has a tad of a crack or delam going up the shaft, but we still use it as a spare and loaner - it was running whitewater yesterday. Dunno who or what the Wildfire Corp was though, and I’ve never seen another one of them!