Werner Paddles - My Choice

Paddle choice is hugely personal. I'm not a coach. I have no special knowledge of how to pick a paddle.
For that, I'd recommend listening to the How To Pick A Paddle Podcast on this page. Oh, and check out the comments at the end - there are some helpful contributions. (Arguably more helpful than mine!)

I've been using various Werner paddles for three years, and I'm fairly clear what works for me and Liz. And it's not what we first assumed.

I was recently asked about this by someone who'd been on the five star training with me and who'd borrowed my Shuna's. I believe he found my reply helpful, so I thought I'd post it here in case you do too.

In the interests of full disclosure - I've had two 'free' paddles from Werner in exchange for lots of photos. I've also bought four paddles from them at discount.

So - where to begin with the Werner range? This is how I broke it down in my e-mail to my friend.

Shaft - Carbon, no question. The fibreglass shafts (or whatever the other type is made of) is just way too heavy. Personally, I like cranked.

Blade material - Three choices, fibreglass (orangy red) or carbon or carbon with foam core. The carbon are lovely, and the foam core is amazing when rolling (like a paddle float!) but both types of carbon are much stiffer than glass.

I have a dodgy shoulder, so for longer trips, I've switched my main paddles away from the carbon to the glass because I feel these put less strain on my shoulder. Liz still uses the carbon foam core as do many other people with no ill effects.

Blade size - this is where we should get into names - but I'm going to ignore them, as they change depending upon whether they're carbon foam core or glass. Think Small, Medium and Large.

The small are for low angle paddling and are what Mick and Patrick used in part on the Faroes trip - 'Athena'.

For most sea kayakers it's a choice of Large or Medium. We bought one of each for the six weeks we spent kayaking the Scottish Sea Kayak Trail but use them in entirely the opposite way to which I expected!

We thought I'd use Large most and switch to Medium when tired. We don't.

The Medium are, by a long way, the most useful size for us for day paddling. They simply work. The miles slip by, the strain is not too great, and the support is there when needed.

That said, the Large are absolutely superb when practicing strokes, or in the case of a coach, demonstrating strokes, as they give so much effect.

In a big sea they're very reassuring as they give so much support when bracing.

So for slightly unexpected reasons, we really like having one pair of each. But if I had to pick one set it would be the Medium. So depending upon the material that's:

Shuna (fibreglass)
Shuna Carbon (carbon)
Cycprus (carbon foam core)

I ought to be clear, none of this is official Werner policy. Neither has this been 'approved' by their marketing department - it would be much slicker if it had!

These conclusions are not even the product of extensive, comparative testing by someone who has paddled for years. This is just my personal thoughts and experience, taken from an e-mail which I sent to a friend who'd borrowed my Shunas and liked them.

If you find this useful - great.