Dragon Boat West

I am in the process of looking into buying a Kialoa Outrigger paddle and would like to know if any team will be doing a group purchase soon?

I am very new to Outrigger and I am asking for suggestions on what is a good Kialoa paddle to purchase.  I have been using the wooden paddles at FCRCC and its time to purchase my own paddle.  Since I will be spending $225+ on a new paddle, I don’t want to end up buying one that is not the right paddle.  I checked-out the Kialoa website and there seems to be so many models/types, I got confused.

I would like to purchase a paddle that majority of paddlers are using (carbon blade) – assuming that it is the standard carbon paddle for outrigger.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

You can demo paddles before purchasing. Try Ryan Pogue, http://www.poguesports.com or I think Melanie from Pulling Water at one time distributed the Kialoa blades. Don't forget to choose the right length of blade as well, do plan to do OC6 or OC1? In OC6 I would go at least one inch longer than the OC1 blade.

Good luck

i believe the popular kialoa model is the axel II.  it's a hybrid... so it's CF blade plus a wooden shaft and t-grip.  probably a very versitile blade for you to do both OC1 and OC6.

other brands you might want to consider are ZRE, Quickblade, Xylo.  if you're looking for full CF... the ZRE are very nice and super light. 

I think Pulling Water has gone under or, at the very least, stopped selling OC and DB-related gear.

Other distributors of Kialoa are Ecomarine Canoe & Kayak over in Granville Island and Western Canoe & Kayak in Abbotsford.  I had put together a group buy for Kialoa paddles last year and both stores were willing to accomodate such orders (we eventually went with Western).

this is a helpful guide for choosing length:  http://www.kialoa.com/FAQ.asp#choose   keep in mind, its a guide, nothing more.  I'm 6'4", and i use a 54" oc blade.  while its perfect for oc6, i could probably do with a 53" for oc1. 
for pricing, if you're looking at getting a paddle NOW instead of waiting the months upon months you'll most likely be waiting with a group buy, you're probably better off getting one directly from the kialoa website, or from one of the local businesses.  with the current exchange rate, its quite reasonable to go directly from the website.  after shipping, you're still looking at less than in-store prices + tax.  I got mine a week after i ordered it (this was 2yrs ago though, not sure what wait time is right now). 

I highly recommend Western Canoe and Kayak, they're great people and very accommodating of group buys.  We did a ZRE group buy last year which included both DB and OC blades and they didn't bat an eye, gave us full discount on all types even though some styles were totally different from the rest of the order.

Otherwise, pogue, and whoever else... they're all good people I'm sure.  Buy locally, support our local paddling retailers, it helps us all in the end!  I'm sure you could convince one of them to match the price on the website with shipping... and it would save you cross border brokerage.  worth a try anyway

Is there a big difference betwen the Axel II, Hollyakala, and the Lanikai II
paddles on the Kialoa website?  Will each paddle function differently?

From previous strings/posts, it seems like the Axel II is recommended/favoured.  Is Axel II the most common and standard OC paddle?  I will most likely order a 51" Kialoa paddle, I am just stumped on which paddle to order - not knowing any info about them. 

have you read each paddle description on the website?  they answer your question for you and give all the info needed.    ...but i wonder if you know what question you're trying to ask?
what are you looking for out of this paddle?  are you a guy? girl?  stronger?  not quite so strong?  each paddle is geared towards a different type of paddler/paddling, but is still able to be used by anyone for anything. 
the bigger the surface of the blade, the more water you'll be pulling, therefore the more strength you're going to need.  its like trying to paddle an outrigger with a dragonboat blade vs with a C1 blade.  smaller blade will be easier to pull through the water (Hollyakala), the larger blade will be harder to pull through the water (Lanikai II).  the Axel II is somewhere in the middle of that and suits most people, which is why most people get that one. 

thanks, i think you answered my question.  I didn't realize clicking on each paddle will give me their description individually because all I saw were just photos of various paddles.  At the time, I couldn't find the description for each paddle (which is what I was really looking for so that I can know the difference of each paddle).

the Axel II sounds like the right choice.

Pogue Sports has a store located on 2nd between Main and Quebec, he has Quickblades in stock and a few other models. I have two Quickblades and love them. You can check with Ryan to see if he'll let you demo one first.

If you do decide to go with Kialoa I would find someone who has one and try it out. It's a lot of money to shell out without trying the product.

Cheers  :D