Hobie paddles are junk

I know this has been discussed before and I have thought about switching to one of my spare paddles but never got around to it. Surf launching Sunday at PC I gave a couple of good strokes and pop goes the paddle blade. Had to paddle out canoe style. 

But on the positive side, you made it back to shore without breaking a pedal shaft or developing a crack in the drive well of your kayak.

But on the positive side, you made it back to shore without breaking a pedal shaft or developing a crack in the drive well of your kayak.

I was actually far more concerned about the lightning 

Hobie's "value" paddle is a worthless piece of plastic ....

That's what you get for using a paddle to launch  :-p

Werner Carbon - the only way to go. I beat the daylights out of mine on the rocks and they still barely have scratches.

Werner Carbon - the only way to go. I beat the daylights out of mine on the rocks and they still barely have scratches.

Whitewater paddling beats the crap out of kayak paddles.  For many years I used Lightning paddles, which were nice paddles, but the blades would wear down and get smaller and smaller until they were about the size of your hand and somewhat ineffective.  Then I got a Werner Shogun bent shaft paddle (a $450 item), which has foam core blades reinforced with a bead of Dynel around the edge, and it has been absolutely bombproof.  Despite many years of hard use, the blades have not worn down at all.  I have been totally happy with this paddle.

However, it appears to me that most kayak fishermen virtually never hit their paddles on rocks, because they spend all their time paddling in deep water.  So any decent sea kayaking or whitewater paddle should work fine  and be reliable.  They won't break.  Any paddle manufacturer which made paddles which break under the stress of normal paddling would quickly go out of business.

If you only want to buy a paddle once and have it last, buy a good one. I don't know about virtually never hitting paddles on rocks, I seem to do it a lot when launching or in the rivers and I kayak for fish as a priority. I can't recall when I went kayaking solely for scenery and when there was not a fishing rod on my boat. Since the carbon paddle is so durable, I also use it to push away from rocks, pilings, and just about anything. I'm not saying everyone will want a carbon paddle but if they are like me and prefer to buy something extremely durable and that will also last, then they should consider carbon.

I know this has been discussed before and I have thought about switching to one of my spare paddles but never got around to it. Surf launching Sunday at PC I gave a couple of good strokes and pop goes the paddle blade. Had to paddle out canoe style. 

I had a Hobie paddle die an untimely death and Next Adventure was able to replace it, and I was able to keep what was left of the broken paddle.