first drive of my new Werner paddle...

wow. yeah. nice. soooooo much nicer than I expected. OK, enough meaningless descriptors. I bought a new 210cm Werner Cyprus paddle. It's their foam core, carbon fiber high-angle touring blade. I have been using a 220cm Werner Camano, a fiberglass, low-angle blade...which I like and it's been a very good paddle. But I wanted a spare paddle. I considered buying something cheap (sort of like a donut spare for your car) that would get me back to the beach in the event of a broken Camano. But after paddling the higher angle blade while Meg and I tested some boats in Portland, I decided to get a good quality paddle and have the option of high or low angle blades while underway.

These are my thoughts on the new blade....first off, it has a much lighter feel out of the water. The adjustable ferrule had me a little nervous, but after seeing the quality up-close, I'm no longer worried about it. It's much more versatile than a fixed feather-angle paddle and easier to adjust on the water. Once on the water, the paddle was a dream. The adjustment to a higher angle stroke was a little awkward at first..if you try to paddle hard at a low angle, the blade flutters a little, which is effective feedback if you get lazy. With the larger blade-face there is a discernible difference in the power at hand. I was able to get the boat up to speed much quicker, and even a more relaxed touring stroke felt much more powerful. The buoyancy in the blades really reduces the effort on the back part of the stroke; at the right pace, it almost paddles itself. The lighter weight, shorter length, buoyancy, and larger blade face made it really easy to pull-off some maneuvering strokes. I found I was able to use one hand to hold the paddle upright an execute some draw strokes, and I was able to put significantly more power to the water with the larger blade (power-available may be biggest difference between this and my other paddle).

All in all, I love the paddle; certainly more than I expected too. I led a commuter paddle along the causeway when I first used the new Werner, so I didn't really have the opportunity to do as much experimentation as I wanted. Right now, I can't wait to get back out on the water.