New Paddle Impressions

[Black_Fly]

Used the new Badgertail for a week in BWCA and loved it. Went paddling the other day and used my ZRE bent shaft Whitewater. I’m now in a good position to compare the two. The Badgertail is easy on the shoulders and much quieter than the ZRE WW. I can hear the sucking/slurping noise very distinctly with the WW. It is however lighter than the sassafras paddle, and easier to sit/switch for acceleration. The reservoir is down now, so the shorter blade on the ZRE WW is appreciated, despite the slurp. The Badgertail would be problematic in the backwater areas right now. Happy to have both paddles along with my rock bashing BB Explorer.

Still like the double blade for crossing big lakes and bays.

 

[Alan Gage]

The Badgertail is easy on the shoulders and much quieter than the ZRE WW. I can hear the sucking/slurping noise very distinctly with the WW.

I'm glad you're enjoying the new paddle. I'm surprised at the noise you say you get from your ZRE. Mine are absolutely quiet during the stroke. If get the speed and angle perfect it's also dead quiet when planting the blade for the catch. More often I don't get this part perfect and there is just a small "pop" when the blade enters the water. Definitely no sucking, slurping, or gurgling.

Alan

 

[Black_Fly]

It’s not loud, but the flat stem above the blade is noisy, but only if you’re trying to paddle with no sound. It’s a racing blade, so probably not even a consideration in design.

 

[tketcham]

The upper part of the blade on their whitewater paddle does look like it would gurgle when doing an in-water recovery (stealth mode paddling), but shouldn't affect the plant/catch or release/recovery. Like Alan says, the ZRE paddles are very quiet, even my straight shaft paddle. For stealth paddling you might have to just pull the blade further up out of the water and use the thin part of the blade below the throat(?). Works for me, though I'm not using the whitewater paddle.

 

[Alan Gage]

It’s not loud, but the flat stem above the blade is noisy, but only if you’re trying to paddle with no sound. It’s a racing blade, so probably not even a consideration in design.

Are you getting the noise during the power stroke or when doing an in water recovery? If on the power stroke then noise would definitely be a design consideration as the noise would likely be a result of the paddle slipping in the water, cavitation, or the blade pulling air into the water; all of which would affect performance. If you're getting the noise on the recovery stroke then, yeah, they probably weren't thinking about that. I don't do full in water recovery but I find them to be silent when doing a partial in water recovery, such as the northwoods stroke.

Alan