Per Bill Tuthill:
I'm not sure about the purpose of the black paddle. Looks like a
sucky design. I bet it flutters in the water, because its sweet-spot
is high/far on the top, and low/near on the bottom.

They both work.

It's just that after a surf session with the white one, I always
come away with some sort of minor ding in one or both shoulders.

Werner's spiel for that one ("SideKick") talks about "...strong,
well conditioned..." users, so my assumption is that it's too
much paddle for Yours Truly - who paddles for hours at a time
against the clock with a wing paddle with no shoulder issues.

The black one ("Stkine") has less paddle area and is almost 3"
shorter (184 vs 191).

It's also foam construction - which makes balancing a surf ski
while sitting waiting for a wave in chop significantly easier...
you can just lay it in the water instead of having to constantly
scull to keep it on the surface.

In fact, now that I'm thinking about it, the shorter length and
floaty blade had as much weight in the decision to buy as the
shoulder issue - which could also just be a technique/surf
conditions thing.
--
PeteCresswell

"(PeteCresswell)" wrote:

The black one ("Stkine") has less paddle area and is almost 3"
shorter (184 vs 191). It's also foam construction...

For some reason, Werner Stikine paddles shown on the web
look better to me than in your picture. It has basically
the same blade shape as the Powerhouse, but smaller.

The Powerhouse is such a great paddle, it does what I want
without my even having to think. And no drip rings!

Stikine is a strange name for a paddle that purports to be a
"creek" paddle. Stikine is a huge river in BC. Rob Lesser was
on the team that first kayaked the Grand Canyon of the Stikine.

I would never buy a black creek paddle, that's just dumb.
I could paint it red, but that would hide the logo, then we
wouldn't know which side is up! ;-)

Per Bill Tuthill:
Stikine is a strange name for a paddle that purports to be a
"creek" paddle. Stikine is a huge river in BC. Rob Lesser was
on the team that first kayaked the Grand Canyon of the Stikine.

I would never buy a black creek paddle, that's just dumb.

I was wondering where they got the name. Thanks for that bit of
enlightenment.

This paddle is for wave ski use.

Tried it yesterday. The decrease in low-end power in foamy
water is noticeable. OTOH, I didn't come out of it with any
shoulder issues and the floaty aspect of the foam core
construction is a significant improvement when it comes to
balancing when I'm just sitting there waiting for a wave.
--
PeteCresswell