PADDLE SHAFT DIAMETER & SHAPE

Any clever people out there know much about the topic of paddle shaft diameters & shapes!

Am looking around at new paddle options & am comfortable with blade preference - lots of helpful info out there & on this forum on this topic!

Bought a new epic paddle with the blade shape & size I wanted, but after having recently used a slim shafted paddle with no handgrips, the epic shaft felt huge & cumbersome to paddle with???

In addition, my hands would be substantially smaller than Oscar's so wonder why EPIC or other brands don't cater for different hand sizes ?

It is interesting that most brands have different shaft sizes / shapes:
Jantex outer diameter (OD) = 29mm
Max paddle OD = 28.5mm standard / 26mm skinny shaft
Epic OD = ? (feels like 30mm+), oval shaft
Orka OD = 28.5cm
Gara OD = 29mm standard / 28mm elite
Meek = 29mm
Fenn OD ?
Think OD = 25.4mm

Rob, would kindly rename this as under equipment catergory & not announcements?
Thanks

tony h wrote: Rob, would kindly rename this as under equipment catergory & not announcements?
Thanks

Done

Tony I've pondered this at lentgh as well and have used a variety of paddles so I'll add to the list and then voice my preferences.
Outside diameters
Jantex is indeed 29mm
Lettmann is 29.5 and ovalled (which makes it feel larger)
Brasca(at least the shaft from a IV) is 28.25mm
QuicK Blade is like 26.5-7mm
Many czech, aus, and saf, copied shapes with Female blades are @31mm
And of course you are right about the epics 30mm ovalled

I've used the above but also experimented with stepping female blades from 30-31mm down to 27.5 or so for a smaller shaft.
I'm don't have big hands, or I should say I have broad hands and shortish fingers. I paddle with zero feather and therefore have two control hands. I have found the optimum for me is about 27.5mm and round. Any smaller feels ridiculous (didn't like the maxpaddle) Quick Blade felt a wee bit small, like the Brasca at 28ish. I don't put anything but one layer of hockey tape on the shaft. Every paddle I've ever used that was more than 29mm I didn't like at all and I've found that the ovalled shafts in effect feel larger, and I don't particularly care for oval either. I like to feel like I can articulate the shaft within my grip a bit (pretty subtle)during the stroke and feel like my catch is better when I'm not hanging onto a signpost at 31mm or so. IMHO many average sized folk would prefer around 28mm but there aren't that many options at that size. Epic would do well to offer a 28mm option also just like werner does. I really like the small werner shaft, depite it being oval. These are just my ruminations an observations, everyone's mileage will vary.

Tony, I pondered the same thing about 6-8 years ago. I had been using standard shaft diameter paddles, then switched to a skinny shaft maxpaddle M3 that I found really nice and easy to use. Interestingly, I didn't find the skinny shaft worked well at all with larger Maxpaddle blade that I later ordered and that made me think that the shaft diameter needs to work well with the blade size and shape.

I next took a maxpaddle skinny shaft and mated it with Epic mid blades made for a round shaft and that was a really nice combination. After a couple of seasons' use, I lost confidence in its strength because of the filing and sanding I had to do to make it all fit together.

The Quickblade that I then ordered - women's size smaller shaft of about 28 mm was ok but didn't go well with the blade in my opinion. The Bracsa 7 min I had worked well with it's slightly smaller shaft diameter.

Now I'm back where I started from with an Epic small mid and oval shaft and am pretty satisfied with it - though I, like you, think that a slightly smaller oval shaft might be a better fit for most of us.

You might want to give the Think paddle a try as it's got a skinny shaft underneath the paddle grip.