Wow, this thread is dead. Is everyone afraid of kayaking in winter here or something?
Anyways, thought I'd report about the latest paddle I bought. I have lots of paddles, whitewater racing, whitewater play, steep creeking paddles, and flatwater racing (wing) paddles, nearly all carbon and pretty high end.
But I needed a good sea kayaking paddle. I've been borrowing paddles from my dad, who is more into sea kayaking than I am. Now that I have 4 in my family, I decided that I need a few of my own. My son and I are comfortable with a wing paddle 90% of the time, but the wife and daughter, or when I'm surfing a sea kayak, I need a good sea kayak paddle. Now that I'm spoiled with high-end carbon paddles, I was unamused at the idea of a heavy fiberglass paddle, but at the same time, I don't want to spend $450+ for a good carbon sea kayak paddle.
I found some carbon paddles on Ali Express a while ago (was looking for another wing at the time) and was hesitant to get an unknown brand. That time I ended up getting a custom Jantex from Slovakia, but about a month ago, I ended up back on their website. They had an all carbon blem sea kayak paddle for under $200 shipped. It arrived within two weeks, and it is a darn nice paddle. I like bigger blades, but this is pretty nice size and shape. They have a few different blade sizes and shapes for different styles, too.
Anyways, I've been wondering about these paddles for a few years, so I thought I'd give my review if anyone else was on the fence. Here is the store link:
https://qqsportoars.aliexpress.com/s...Head_8023406.0. There are other stores/brands on there too, but this is the one that I've heard the most about, and is the one I tried.
The prices go up and down a little depending on sales and exchange rates. I've also been told that many of the $450 paddles are made at the same factories that these $200 paddles are made in. Just a heads up if you want to save some money on some nice paddles, if you aren't worried about a paddle being sold by a US company.