Check out Aquabound. I believe their shafts are not indexed on the Whiskey and Tango models. They are actually lighter than the equivalent Werner models. My wife uses a Whiskey and likes it. I have tried it and it is a nice paddle, but it does not go into the water as smoothly as my Werner Shuna.
On the other hand, we both recently switched to the Werner Ikelos and we both love them.
Thanks. Only problem with Aquabound is they are still relatively “heavy” compared to my 23 oz Cyprus. Nice paddles, though. My first one was an Aqua.
Have you actually weighed your paddles?
My wife’s 2 pc Whiskey is actually several ounces lighter than my 2 pc Werner Shuna. I weighed each of them on my reasonably accurate cooking scale. I have found that my Werner paddles are consistently an ounce or 2 heavier than Werner claims while the Whiskey was actually a touch lighter than claimed.
You confused me with another poster. I suggested Celtic paddles, not Aquaboind. I have a coiple of Aquabound carbon shafts and they are alightly heavy compared to my otger paddles (higher end Werner amd wood and carbon GP’s). Celtics are light but costly.
I have no way to weigh them, but the Cyprus feels really light.
My favorite paddles are Eddyline Windswifts
The Cyprus is very light. The only other superlight paddles I have used are my Gara wing paddle and an Onno paddle that I sold years ago.
Onno was helpful and easy to talk with, and the paddle well made, but somewhere in the intervening years since then he took payments and literally failed to deliver the product. So don’t buy from him unless it is C.O.D.
Yeah, I looked around a bit, and there really aren’t many better paddles out there. I used to have an Ikelos, but the blade size might’ve been a bit too much. Although, I do prefer a slower cadence. I guess the squashed shaft on the Werners isn’t a big deal.
I have been looking into Greenland paddles just for a change, but not sure if that would be a good choice for me since I don’t use a spray skirt. It seems like I’d be getting a lot of water on my lap.
I wouldn’t say that a Greenland paddle will give you “a lot of water” on your lap, but it will get you a little wetter than a paddle with drip rings.
In warmer weather it’s no big deal, and kayaking is a water sport, right?
I have three Werner paddles. Two Cyprus paddles 205 & 210cm and an Ikelos at 210cm. All three paddle shafts are round.
That was one of my two gripes about a GP. The other was it’s hard to get any power in very shallow water otherwise I liked the paddle but I did sell it.
The new Epic touring all carbon paddles now have round shafts. The old Epic touring had red shafts, but now they are black and round. The Epic paddles also weigh an ounce less than the Werner carbon paddles.
Well, all mine are round-ish. But they are not round. So now the question is if round-ish is what you consider round.
What do I consider round-ish? Round, not oval. My Epic paddle has an oval part where the hands on the right and left are placed. The new Epic Touring All Carbon paddles are different from the old red shafted paddles in that they—the shafts—are round.
Well, I have never seen an oval Werner paddle shaft. My Werners are not round and not oval. I would call them slightly egg-shaped.
Whatever. Want to get into a debate on semantics? Oval, egg-shaped, concave, etc…what I know is I possess three Werner paddles with round—no indentations—shafts.
What I am aiming at is:
The non-roundness of a Werner paddle shaft is so subtle that many Werner owners will probably think they have a round shaft.
So I have no way of knowing if your shaft really is round, or you just think it is round.
What I remember when shortening my older Werner paddles I had to be careful not to cut off so much that the ferrule would extend into the subtle oval area and not work.
Yeah, it’s VERY subtle. Maybe I do like it better, LOL. It just feels a little odd compared to my Aquabound which I believe is totally round.
My question is, why would one prefer round at the grip area to the subtle squish area? You never need to look at the blade to see if it is right when entering the water. I almost always paddle with paddling gloves and even with gloves, and even feathered, I know when the blade is right to enter the water. That’s probably not a big deal in relatively mild conditions, but when it gets real busy in bumpy going it’s one less item that needs attention.