GS blue

Last Saturday I donated my carbon wing paddle to some lucky person who probably has no idea what a paddle is let alone have a use for one. My generosity was totally oblivious to me until Sunday when Suzaan asked me where my paddle was. My heart turned to lead as it occurred to me that I must have left it at the put-in sight the day before. I am not usually the negligent type so my mind automatically started working overtime trying to come up with rational answers as to where my paddle had gone. The only definite in the situation is that my beloved paddle is gone.

So this week I was faced with the task of choosing a new paddle. I have noticed, looking at all the other blogs, DVDs and books, that the flat blade paddles are by far the most popular paddles amongst the sea kayaking community in other parts of the world. This makes sense as they do allow for more stroke variations which improve your paddling experience. In South Africa however, the wing paddle comes out tops with only a very few flat blade options available. Most of these flat blades available are considered entry level paddles so you seldom get anything light and effective. The apparent reason for the wing blade bias is that here, sea kayaking is still rather small compared to the other disciplines like surf-skiing and river racing. In order to support the masses all the local manufacturers are creating wing paddles rather than flats. So, in other words, when you choose your next paddle, you are almost always going to walk out with a wing paddle, it’s by far the most available option.

Fortunately for me I found one of the last locally made Epic flat full carbon paddles in the country. Epic was probably one of the only local manufacturers to ever venture into the flat blade market. I can’t help to think that the only reason why it was available here was because Epic was very aware of the flat blade market overseas and they were trying to spread their wings. Unfortunately Epic products are no longer manufactured here in SA so their prices have sky-rocketed quite considerably. Most items have more than doubled in price since they moved their production. Maybe this is good news for the other local manufacturers but for the South African paddler in search of a flat blade, it’s bad news. Why not import products? The distance, time, transport costs, our comparatively weak currency and import duties make this option unfeasible.

Now if only the South Easter would give us a break so I can go test the new paddle.