How many paddles have you owned?

[Barny P]

I think I must be unluky,

Ive been paddling white water for about a year, Ive just bought my 4th set of paddles

Set 1 was a pair of Origins Zambezi they were ontop of someones car when he drove into a car park barrier
Set 2 was pair of Robson Combats i thought theyd last forever untill i watched them get run over
Set 3 was a pair of Robson Scalpels that snapped today on the Dart loop after I back deck rolled and the river snapped them over a rock

Bring on set 4

So thats 325pounds in a year WTF, So cheer me up and tell me your bad kit stories :(

[Voodoo]

I think you must be, This is my 20th year off paddling and I am on to my 3rd set off paddles Only ever broke one I still have my 2nd as a spare
I dont think thats going to cheer you up much :-)

[Rdscott]

I've only owned 2 paddles in 6 years however i seem to go through dry cags at a horrific rate

Cag 1 - Stoolen
Cag 2 - wore through elbows (using it for work etc)
Cag 3 - mouse ate it in a dry room
Cag 4 - Sliced off by medical services

Bring on Cag 5

[Barny P]

Cag 3 - mouse ate it in a dry room

This probably wasnt funny at the time but it has cheered me up

[Joe L]

Four in 6 years.
First set OF Originz Kaituna's I gave to a local kayaker on the Nile.
Second set H2O teams snapped, where made into splits then snapped again.
Now got powerhouses and AT4's.

[Ollieswims!]

Set 1: Some shoddy metal shafted plastic blades (crap, Replaced them)
Set 2: Robson Combats (snapped @ tryweryn)
Set 3: Glass werner players.

[Ollieswims!]

Cag 4 - Sliced off by medical services

Ouch... I've had my £263 snowboard jacket cut open because of a broken arm, I know how you feel.
What was the incident?

[Barny P]

I sold my broken combats to be made into splits and ended up finishing the dart loop with them after mine snapped

[Pam Bell]

After 35 years and a ridiculous number of boats, I've owned 5 sets of kayak paddles, and still have them all!

First ever, pride and joy - Gees Champions that lost an inch or so when I got the blade stuck in the stopper on the 3rd of the Usk triple drops. Mark 'Gees' cut the other blade to match and re-tipped the blades.

Schlegels, which I managed to crack, but still going strong.

Gorillas

Two sets of Lendal Powermasters, one very 'chewed' at the edges from too much use on unsuitable water. I consigned them to sea kayaking and bought a new set for racing - which is now also used for sea kayaking.

I've owned four canoe paddles, but only have two now.

An old Azali I used to use for C1, which I take as a spare and try to remember to switch to when it gets a bit rough for the beavertail.

One beavertail which I finally had to give up on after having it stuck together several times - having forgotten to switch to the Azali!

One beavertail which I managed to lose in the same stopper on the Usk during a strange incident involving an ambiguous river signal and two kayakers.

A new beavertail which I try to look after better...

[Ollieswims!]

Their not amazing are they...
And they are rather like concrete don't you think?
Here's what ive done to mine, Its a work in progress...

[Barny P]

Becoming a canoe paddle? How did you snap them?

Yeh as hard and as heavy as concrete

[sthorne]

Hi

2 sets

1 - Werner Sidekick Cranked sold as were c**p for me
2 - Ophion Cyclone awsome

happy days

[Ollieswims!]

Yep, Better than chucking them i thought. I need to get hold of/make a handle at some point; Any ideas?
I snapped them whilst doing a free wheel on the section above graveyard on the Tryweryn. I didn't notice that they had snapped until i tried putting in a stroke on my right. I lost the blade for two days, then we came back when there was no release and i found it just 5/10 metres downstream lying in an eddy (not wedged up against a rock, Just sitting there!)

[daw]

Two in three years

Left first pair in a layby near getout - despite racing back there late at night they had gone

David

[TheKrikkitWars]

Yep, Better than chucking them I thought. I need to get hold of/make a handle at some point; Any ideas?

Go to a paddling shop, ask for a t-grip, should cost about £3.99; then go to B&Q buy some araldite (NOT araldite rapid); cut shaft flush with hacksaw, insert t-grip (trim to fit with a stanley knife if needs be), once happy with the t-grip position, glue it.

That aside, my list is:

Werner Sidekicks (197 straight shaft) - lost after an undewater pin on the Meig
Werner Sidekicks (191 Cranks) - now on long term loan to a fresher
Werner Bandit (55") - has been cut down 3 times from 60" to 58" to 55"; has now worn away by a good half inch at the left hand edge of the tip
Double Dutch Turbine (60") - shaft was cracked on the plane back from Uganda, now waiting until I can affort a new cranked shaft.
Mitchell Paddles Premier (58") - My first wooden shafted paddle, so good to use, and warmer to grip in the cold; I'm getting used to the fact that due to the solid wood under the carbon skin it's not nearly as fragile as it looks.
Grey Owl Voyageur (50") - Nice enough to use, albeit exclusively with my squirtboat, I didn't get on with the football grip, so I've carved a notch for my thumb into it, needs varnishing.

[Ricks-Freestyle-Mind]

On my fourth et in twelve years. I'm quite happy with that. My Robson Greens have done most of the work. I can't bring myself to cut them in half for splits...to many memories :)

[Ollieswims!]

Cheers krikkit, I will get down to AS and see if they supply them.

[Torsten]

Old set of 200cm plastic blade Aluminium shaft things.
197 Q-dos Carbon/Kevlar river blades with a straight carbon shaft - tips de-laminated and I got cranks for my Wrists
Galasport Carbon Elite Asymmetric polo blades on a straight carbon shaft - Still being intensively used! (For polo obviously)
194 AT2 Flexi - Awesome cranks! My current blades!

And that's in 4/5 years?

[**mark**]

5 Kayak blades and 3 Canoe in 20 years of paddling
Palm plastic and aluminum (very fist set of paddles, snapped them)
Schlegel extreme ones (bit dinged but still got them)
Some Answorths that i won at a surf comp meny years ago (snapped one of the blades and bent the loom on the Lyn last year so going to stick a T grip on)
New set of cranked Answorths (my river and play paddles
Set of Mitchel blades (that i use for surfing)
Canoe wise i seem to have snapped or cracked all of my blades (Schlegel, Gray owl and Bending Branches all in a state of repair at the moment)

[mharrall]

6 sets of racing paddles of various kinds, most wore out but one pair were stolen from the club canoe shed. Plus 5 sets of whitewater paddles, only one of which got broken, they were wooden Kobers that snapped during a swim on the Sanna. They became open canoe blades after that, waste not want not. 3 of the whitewater paddles were lost through either leaving them behind when paddling somewhere or by having them nicked from my garden. My current Lendals have lasted me 13 years.

Barny, tell the nice people what you were trying to do when you broke the paddles and where you were trying to do it.

The paddles Barny used to get out of the river are mine, having bought them off him in the summer to repair and make splits out of, like I said: Waste not want not :-)
Oh if anyone even happen to find the scalpels, which we think are on the bottom of the dart somewhere, we'd quite like them back so that they too can be recycled into splits :-)

[rvenab]

Until recently I was still on my first set of blades. Then three weeks into my Alps trip I lost a set, a few days later I snapped a set, and then a few days later I lost a set (the club splits sank!). Never heard of someone getting through three sets of blades on one trip...

[James Hartley]

First set was a pair of Gorillas, which I sold, the second was a set of waterstick which I sold, to buy a shorter set of the same make, sadly I watched them fall down an embankment and float off, only to recover them lower down, and then as I tried to use them on the first stroke they snapped. Next set where a pair of Werners that lasted several years, before I lost them, and my current set are some Mitchells

[geyrfugl]

1) Ainsworth - made these into splits and recently sold them very cheaply
2) Gorillas - still got these but they seem very heavy these days
3) Lendal Mania - bought as a set when we took lots of people on the Spey, but became my most-used paddles. Still got them.
4) Werner Players, all carbon. These are what I use all the time.
5) Werner Sherpa 4-part splits - a set of splits that actually go in the boat !

6) Lendal Nordkapp sea paddles, still my main paddles
7) Lendal Kinetic touring, made as splits to feather either way
8) Home-made Aleut-style wooden paddle.
9) Home-made wooden 45° sea paddle
10) Nimbus split paddle with long thin blades (can't remember the model) - a bit wing-ish. Don't use these much.
11) Feathercraft split Greenland paddle. High gloss finish is a bit slippy.
12) Home-carved Greenland Paddle, oiled finish, very nice to use, but can't get a lot of power out of it.

13) Laminated wooden Canoe Paddle
14) Grey Owl one-piece ash Canoe Paddle. This is getting a bit split at the end

There's a four-part split all-carbon sea paddle that I use, but it wasn't bought for me,
so I can't really count it in this list :-)

None of the above have broken, and I still have all but one.

So obviously, I need a few more, particularly sea paddles and Canoe Paddles ...

Andy

[trickywhu]

I have never broken a set of paddles, just use them for a bit they get scratched and i think would love a shiny set and buy some new ones,

1st Full Carbon Robson Pogos (donated to me by my brother) (sold)
2nd Werner Sidekicks Cranked (Still Own, absolutely solid)
3rd H20 2's had 2 sets, the first set leaked and transformed into a rainstick so i took them back and got a new set. (still own them)
4th Werner Shoguns (absolute beasts not getting rid of them)

[box2k2]

1. Ainsworth 103 - converted to splits and donated
2. Rough stuff Tempest - wearing out, converted to and current splits
3. Robson Gemini - Broke blade, Tryweryn - Shaft became set 6
4. Double Dutch Energy/Kinetic - carbon failure shaft - Blades became set 6
5. Werner player - Broke blade - donated for splits
6. Frankenpaddle (3&4 above)- spare paddle - lost Guisane
7. Werner Sherpa - worn out - retired to spares
8. Werner Sherpa - current

So 8 in about 10 years

[SwamP]

1Lendal – Wooden
2Something else
3Schlegal III
4Mania
5Mania
6Lendal Kinetic XTi N12
7Mad Yaker
8Same but Carbon Nylon
9Mitchell Blades
10Next up is going to be some H2O blades on a standard HPS shaft if it can be done…Mitchells are going the same way as the rest...

9 in 11ish years of which I’ve paddled 7 years on and off…

[feelingjustfine]

Owned a fair few-never broken any of them though, just people who I lend them to break them-lesson, don't borrow you paddles out innit!

[Martyn Hartley]

Been Coaching for 16 years, and only scrapped my 1st set (Ainsworth's - they were bought as seconds but gave several years service, before I lost a corner from one blade)

Bought Rough Stuff Tempest's - still carry them as a spare set for others to borrow.

Switched to Waterstick Cranks when I realised I was starting to have joint problems - still carry these as my personal spare

Recently switched to Mitchell Cranked Jaguar - ultra light and slightly smaller blade so less pressure on my (knackered) joints.

Also carry a custom Lendal 4 piece split on the water - used several times, but never by me!

[Barny P]

Barny, tell the nice people what you were trying to do when you broke the paddles and where you were trying to do it.

Haha i'd rather not

[_Rheanna]

Barny, tell the nice people what you were trying to do when you broke the paddles and where you were trying to do it.

Haha I'd rather not

You weren't doing anything stupid were you?

For the record, I'm on one set over the same time Barny's broken the 3