Please don't take this as a knock on the Burnwater paddles, but I heard from last year that during the Alcan race in Vancouver, there were some "paddle malfunctions" where some of the Burnwater paddles were prone to breaking. psynch, you seem to have some experience with them, how would you compare them to say the Zaveral carbonfibre paddle? I know that the Burnwater paddle doesn't offer a palm grip while the ZRE does... I've also used Zaveral's CF marathon canoe paddle on occassion and was impressed with their quality and build.
Hey Chaos,
I heard from one person similar rumors of Burnwaters malfunctioning but I can't substantiate them nor do I know when those rumors were relative to when I bought my Burnwater in late September 2003. My understanding is that my paddle was constructed for my preferences the day before I had bought it. I so far trust that any early, known problems would have been sorted out by then.
I've only used the paddle at one race since September as well as during pool practices over the past few months. I haven't inspected it closely for any problems but nothing so far has led me to believe there is any potential problem.
I've used ZREs at the Liberty race in 2002 in New York. Aside from not being able to use one that was sized better for me, I prefer how Burnwater's elliptical shaft feels over the round shaft of the ZRE paddles I used then. I tried the ZRE palm grip then and I still personally prefer the T-grip. I would acknowledge that I may be biased insofar as my dragon boat training has been with Grey Owl paddles.
In a general way, if someone wanted a full carbon fiber replacement for their wooden Grey Owl paddle, a Burnwater paddle is a very, very close approximation in shape and feel while being lighter and stiffer.
Bob
