heavier paddle ? ! What's your view ?

Hi guys,

Let's take an exemple:
Jantex Gamma medium :800g
Orka Superflex : 930g

They both have the same blade and the same soft shaft.
You can guess that the superflex looks a bit stronger and its made as well for south african rivers etc.

The question is what about the 130g weight difference ! Should we choose right the way a paddle which is under 800g and might help us to save some arms energy on long distances.

On the contrary does a heavier paddle will help to have more power at the catch and through the pull ?


Anyone who has a word to say about this subject is more than welcome ?

Marco

plenty of people like a bit more weight when sprinting , If you are putting 40kg of force into the water each stroke then holding up 130gms isn't a deal breaker.
nowhere near that force applied if you are doing 20km so light is king then IMO.

The paddle scribes out a complex series of movements.

It is not as if you will get a return of the energy used to recover the paddle back into the power part of the stroke.

Anytime there is an acceleration and deceleration involved with the movement, lightweight will always be better.

You also have to hold up the entire weight of the paddle at some phases of the movement.

Heavy enough not to break or compromise the power delivery through unwanted flex and no more.

Simple as that.

Wouldn't one variable be where the weight savings is focused? Would a lighter overall paddle, but with a similar weight blade be much advantage at all? I don't know, I'm 15 years removed from my last physics class. I have a Jantex Gamma Medium myself and it feels like the blades are heavier compared to other paddles I've tried. I've tried lighter paddles and found I'm not as comfortable with them, that they lacked the 'feel' of the heavier (or it seems heavier) blade. Of course, it's probably all in my head and I think in the end I'm too slow for any of it to matter much.
BTW, I've had my Jantex for 2 years, paddle with it 4 days a week, and it's still rock solid.

For sure, the most critical weight is the one that gets the most acceleration/deceleration, so in a paddling case the blades are clearly the most important.

But it doesn't change the fact that the lighter is the better, only that it is more important for weight at the ends of the paddle to be minimised than in the middle.