Dragon Boat West

anyone here have one?   What are your thoughts on them?   I know that it was discussed briefly way in the past... but I figure that by now most people will have owned/tried different CF paddles to have some first hand experience/opinions.

I have a burnwater and a Apex adjustable and like both .The Burnwater has a nice glossy finish and oval shaft but my new Apex is just as nice but lacks the fancy gloss . The weave looks the same and the weight is almost exactly the same but its adjustable and I luv that feature .I can adjust to whatever seat or boat I come across which I can't w/ the Burnwater .I found after having my burnwater made for the gemini it was too short for the BUK so I needed a new paddle for the BUK .

 Spend the extra money and go for the Apex adj. ...you'll luv it and racing in different seat or boat will never be a problem again .

i find that the grey owl cf's are heavy and its the reason i opted for a burnwater.  (love the burnwater) 

I agree that the Grey Owl Carbon Fibres are heavy.
I've used both a Burnwater and a Simon River Sports Carbon Fibre Paddle.  I like both, but the Burnwater has a sharper edge and cuts through the water a bit cleaner than the SRS.  I've never used an APEX, but I dont like the look of them.  Maybe that's not important to most people, but I want my paddle to be pretty! :)

 The Apex goes into the water just as nice as the Burnwater ..... and the simon river paddles are not so good.We tried 2 of them out and after 1 hard practice both showed stress fractures where the shaft meets the blade

 Pretty doesn't always make you fast .......right Angel ? lol .You want pretty then anodize the adj part of the Apex any colour you want for about $25 here locally ...geez 

 Hmmm..come to think of it we tried out 2 new burnwaters a month or so ago and after a couple of hard practices the blades warped and we had to have them replaced ...guess what they went to ....yep..a Apex and so far no problem

 If you have a newer Burnwater take a look at the blade and make sure its flat not all distorted ( looks like waves )

actually i found that after back-to-back pieces of apex/burnwater, the burnwater cut into the water a lot cleaner (especially in seat 2 where i was sitting) than the apex.  i won't deny that the apex is a solid piece and the adjustability is great, but for overall feel, i love my burnwater.
and i always add this in, you gotta try them all before you decide...  it comes down to personal preferance.

My whole team uses SRS Carbon paddles and no one has broken any. So it's hard to believe that the two Paddleboy tried both showed stress fractures. Maybe they were the cheaper fibreglass ones?

many others and many other teams have used the SRS with multiple breakings.  hopefully by now they've sorted the problems out though.

 Yes both srs carbon blades had the stress factures . My team mate was loaned them to try out and he used them in his time trials and then he came over and showed us what happened ..........maybe just a bad run of paddles
 
 And don't get me wrong here ...I like my burnwater as well but like my apex for the adjustability

 1 thing I did notice and I see its becoming more common is that paddlers useing the burnwater ,that paddle alot ( meaning 4 or more days a week), seem to be getting an injury to their middle fingers where it meets the hand .The oval shape seems to dig in more than the round shaft which would apply pressure all around ( does that make sense ? ) .When I used my burnwater my middle finger would swell up and be very tender and now that I have changed to a blade with a round shaft I have not had that problem and I have noticed other paddlers complaining of the same finger problems so I'm going to assume its the oval shaft design that may be the culprit ...anyone else with a burnwater have swollen middle fingers ?

*raises hand*   (but you knew that already)  i have found less problems with my finger wearing a glove on my bottom hand every time i paddle though.  still not completely gone, but nowhere near the pain and swelling as before and quite bearable

Carbon fibre paddles are generally thought to cause more injuries because they're stiffer than wood.

You never see a carpenter using a steel-handled hammer. Stiffer handles transfer more shock into their arm and causes joint problems. They always use wood because it absorbs the vibrations. If you hammer a few nails it doesn't matter, but if you hammer all day every day it becomes an issue.

A carbon paddle transfers more stress into your joints. They're good to race with because of the extra stiffness and energy transfer, but can lead some people to injuries if they're paddling with them a lot.


rb

i use my burnwater pretty much daily, and have been since .....   october? september?  the middle finger problem mentioned has been the only problem i've had.

Are you sure that's the cause of you finger injuries John? HEH HEH
Maybe you're just working them out too hard in other extra-curricular activities!

hmm...  VERY suggestive comment. :lol:

I was thinking playing too much video games....what are you thinking colossus?  :shock:

Remember that the Grey Owl wood "racer" model has an ovalized shaft too.  I've never heard of any Swollen Members from the G-O woodies (uhhh, let me re-phrase that last bit ... ah, what the heck ... :D).

Me, I like the oval shaft better than the full-round shaft of the G-O wood "club" model.

You're not supposed to be doing the Grip of Death on the silly thing, you know, paddleboy!!  In hockey, that's known as "squeezing" the stcik ... with the usual unhappy results.  Same in tennis.

Relax, boyo, relax ...

I sometimes try - in practice - to focus on relaxing my hands thru every part of the stoke except the Pull-thru.  For the rest of the stroke, the shaft is kind of rattling 'round in the circle of my thumb & fingers.  Even in the Catch, it's just a light grip on the bottom hand (just enough so's I don't smack a thumb on the Gunnel - OUCH!).  And focussing on having to "squeeze" at the right time seems to help me focus better on the actual Pull itself, too.

Other times, I'll put my bottom-hand thumb on the same side of the shaft as my fingers, so I'm pulling & exiting & so on just with the curled fingers.  And similar "relax" tricks with the top hand.  Same purpose - help me focus on when I really must "grip", yet let me relax the hands when I don't need to waste the effort.

For those of you that outrigger, I'm guessing you do much the same sort of thing.

Again, all this is in DB practices only - which can be a grind, right?


Stands to reason.

There is some shock effect when the blade stabs into the water - H₂O  is "hard", meaning incompressible.  Ever dive off the High Board, and hit off-line?  Owwwwww ...

And at the transition between the Catch & the Pull, there needs to be something that adsorbs the initial shiock from the yank on the "hard" water.  If it's not the shaft & blade (C-F blades are stiffer than woods, just like the shafts), it will be your finger, wrist, elbow & shoulder joints.

So for most regular practices, I'd opt for wood, if I were having finger or joint soreness.

For TTs, & pracs in the week or so before races, & the races themselves ... give me Carbon.

(not that I have the choice, since I haven't been able to afford a C-F yet ... but that's another story ... SIGH ...  :()

You might want to take a boo at the cheap Apex C-F/plastic blade (get in touch with Chris Grunow thru the FCRCC, he's the local disti).  Several folks on my team have them, & like them.  Only a few bucks more than a G-O racer wood - & much less than the full C-F.  Not quite as good as full C-F, but better than wood, so my teamies who've tried all say.

Dan