"Peter" wrote in message
news:04sub.236885$Tr4.697183@attbi_s03...
andrei wrote:

My wife, who has the same kayak, is having a hard time. Our kayaks
came with 30$ paddles Carlisle. The next paddle model up (judging by
price) was already at 90 bucks! Should she consider changing?

I mean, what does the paddle do? It "grabs" the water so the kayaker
can pull himself forward, right? So what's the big deal about
paddles?! I don't imagine that two buckets on each side of a broom
would be very pleasant to use, but is it worth spending 90 bucks or
more on a paddle? Would that help my wife?

Depends on what problem your wife is having. Cheaper paddles are
generally
heavier and holding up the extra weight can be quite tiring on a longer
trip, especially for a smaller, lighter paddler.


They also tend to have blade shapes that don't do a very effective job of
preventing flutter in the water and they can tend to want to slip one way or
another. Also leading to fatique and just being a pain in the butt in
general. Cheaper blades that are made of non reinforced thermoplastics tend
to bend a lot in the water, putting the energy of the paddler's stroke into
bending the paddle rather than moving the kayak forward.