Biggest regret when starting out with paddle boarding

Ethan has been paddling for several years, but there is one purchase regret he has from when he started out paddle boarding. The regret was buying an inferior paddle. Just like have a nice pair of running shoes fo a jog, or a nice pair of boots for a hike, having the right paddle will vastly improve your paddling experience, comfort and ultimately pleasure. Don’t make his mistake and instead, buy a quality paddle on day one, and thank me later! Let’s hear what Ethan has to say on the topic.

Choosing a quality paddle

Let’s talk about what I regret purchasing when I first started paddleboarding. That item is a cheap paddle. Honestly, when I first started paddleboarding, I knew very little about the sport and even the equipment used to do the sport. So when I went out to purchase my first paddleboard and paddle, I was more excited about finding a cool paddleboard to purchase, and then just trying to find the cheapest paddle I could to go along with it. I didn’t know at the time, but purchasing a cheap paddle upfront was a very unwise decision to make.

Here are some reasons why:

So, the first not-so-great thing about cheap paddles like this one from Amazon is that they’re very heavy. Their shafts are usually made out of aluminum, and their blades are usually out of nylon plastic. Both these materials are not very light, causing you to have to carry a heavier paddle in your hand, which causes you to be more tired on the water while you’re paddling.
The second thing that’s not so great about cheaper paddles is because they’re made out of lower-grade material and there’s not a lot of time that was put into the design of the paddle. You get a lot of movement and a lot of wiggle around any joints. So, for a 3-piece paddle like this one, you get movement around where the shaft connects together or where the shaft meets the blade. You get a lot of wobble there as well. These are both things that you don’t want to have in your paddle because they will affect your experience on the water.
Which leads us to our third reason why these paddles are not so great is because of all this movement and all this wobble in the paddle shaft and blade, when you’re paddling, you will find it harder to balance and also get more power out of your power stroke as you’re paddling along. With those things as well, you will find that you can cause fatigue and harm to your body trying to use this lower-grade paddle.
And the last reason you don’t want to buy a cheap paddle is that they do not last. For example, when I bought my first paddle that was a cheap one that was similar to this one in my hand here, I broke it within the first year.

At Green Water Sports we’ve got a quality selection of SUP paddles from various brands. Our favorite is the Enduro Prepreg from Starboard. Paddlers of all levels can appreciate a good quliaty paddle, so make a good investment when choosing your SUP paddle.

Choosing a quality paddle

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