Wilko wrote in :

John Fereira wrote:

I don't think I've ever seen anyone complain choosing a better, more
expensive paddle than a cheap one. Over the years that this group has
been "in business" there have been lots of people coming here asking
for reccommendations on a paddle and the advice has always been not to
scrimp on buying a paddle and there is a good reason for that.

That said, I don't believe that a $400 super light carbon fiber paddle
is for everyone. While many of the experience paddlers here would
hardly blink about spending that kind of money on equipment for their
passion, that's a significant commitment for someone just entering the
sport and still not sure how into the sport they're going to get.

I've gone from the heavy Schlegel paddles to Spiderpaddles (prepreg
glass blades with a double thickness carbon/kevlar bent shaft) about
six years ago. Those paddles take several years of abuse (rock bashing
on low level streams) and gradually wear down the blades.

The one I have now (for the past two years) cost about 175 US$, the
previous one cost about 140 US$ at that time. Decent price for a good
paddle. I can't justify anything like 400 US$ on a paddle, no matter
how nice it is. Boats tend to outlast my paddles by a factor of at
least two, even though I haven't broken a paddle in maybe six or seven
years, that's just too much money for my taste.

Of course you're a whitewater paddler and the paddle I bought is a touring
paddle. I would imagine that sea kayak paddles tend to last a *lot* longer
than a WW paddle. Many sea kayakers will spend $2000-$3000 (or more) for a
touring boat. I know that prices on WW boats have gone up quite a bit over
the past few years but even $1500 would be at the top end. My guess would
be that equipment costs for sea kayaking (I'm not talking about recreational
class boats that sometimes sold as sea kayaks for beginners) are
significantly higher than for ww paddling.