A paddle review
tomthepaddleman | January 26, 2009I’ve only ever done 2 kit reviews in the past, so i thought i’d make it up to 3. I’m going to review my ophion cyclone paddles that i’ve had for the past couple of weeks. I’ll make it clear that although I am sponsored by ophion I will give a unbiased review; as no-one would want to paddle with useless kit.
Product Info
Ophion are a paddle manufacturer from slovenia, specialising in producing handmade custom paddles. I’m going to review their cyclone blade shape on a carbon cranked shaft which retails for around £300 including delivery. The ‘basic’ (carbon/glass blades on straight shaft) starts from just under £200 including delivery to the UK and comes with the added bonus of having your exact length and feather. Delivery wise it took my paddle just over a week to be made up and delivered in as much packaging as you could ever want!
The Paddle
Me just about to go paddling at nightOn first inspection and just holding it in my hands in the living room it felt and looked brilliant, the silver weave going from end to end and the indexed grips. On the water it felt incredibly smooth and stable giving huge amounts of power without yanking your shoulders off in the process. To be honest whilst paddling with this paddle i couldn’t fault its performance; light, powerful and looks fantastic, and the unique blade shape gives heaps of power both forwards and back. Durability wise I’ll update here on that but after a few paddles i still can’t see a scratch so its good so far. The only thing some people could fault it on was the stiffness of the full carbon version, but there are glass/ carbon mixes available so this shouldn’t be too much of a problem for you bad wrist suffers.
Conclusion
One pretty good paddle, ideal for any whitewater boating.
Tom