OK guys,
Leigh asked me to write a piece on my first impressions of the new core paddles.
After paddling at clifton beach in tasmania with both the straight and bent shaft paddles in moderate surf i was able to get a pretty good idea of what to expect.
Core paddles are designed by Steve Horvath - the man behind the h2o paddles, and it shows. The blades are going to be very similar to the h20 blades being a re-enforced plastic. I'm personally a big fan of the blades on the h20. Now i know that h20 had some big problems with their durability, but i never really saw many (if any?!) blades break. They did wear down for sure but not at the same rate as a glass or carbon blade. Personally i am a big fan of the blades, good flex for playboating but definatly enough strength to creek with.
The shaft of the core paddles is the big news for core. They have managed to get Easton alloys on board. Never heard of Easton alloys? I had not untill I spent 5 years in canadia. Easton is the same company that makes many things... namely sporting equipment such as baseball bats and ice hockey sticks. So they have a pretty damn solid reputation for producing quality products.
The shafts on the core paddles feel pretty thin (similar to the old 7/2 paddles - but a bit thicker) and have the same grips as the h20 (yay). The shaft feels bomber, both on the strait and bent shaft (1peice forged) but still has a surprising amount of flex, i expected them to be very stiff.
Dont care about that stuff...how do they paddle you ask?
Well... as a play paddles they are sick. Flexible enough to rip some big moves and be forgiving on your shoulders when you stuff something up, yet very very responsive. Although I think the blades i used were too small for creeking. I think core is coming out with some bigger blades after the first round of production paddles are out there, so we will have to wait and see.
The one thing that concerned me about the metal shafts was the potential to kink the shaft, then have it bend at a later date. I had a look at my mates ice hockey stick made by Easton, and it is covered in small kinks and dents, i put it between 2 benches and threw my weight against it pretty damn hard and nothing happened.... so im pretty sold untill i get one and manage to break it.
All I need to do now is convince kayak4play to give me one for free.... ha ha haBut really they look pretty sick.
Thats my 2 cents
Adrian
