Hi all,
For christmas this year Santa bought the family a C4 Waterman 12-6 River Race board, we were very happy 
Unfortunately his budget didn't quite run to a nifty paddle as well, so I made the rather dodgy specimen shown in the image below out of a broomstick, some waterproof tape and a spare kayak paddle
I'm keen to get a new one, and was wondering what would be the best material for use in whitewater and rocky rivers? I imagine either alloy or fibreglass would be tougher than the carbon fibre ones, with fibreglass being the best compromise between weight, toughness and price.
I'm mainly going to be using it in the river below my place which has Grade I/II rapids and can be a bit shallow and rocky depending on the water levels.
I did my first run on the 11km stretch close to my place last week and it was awesome fun, even with the dodgy paddle 
It made fairly simple rapids heaps more challenging and fun than in my sot kayak
Thanks in advance,
Ant
i would get one that dont break easy , carbon fibre paddles are prettty expensive! Maybee look into making your own wooden paddles , plenty of good timber in Tassie.
Post some pics of your river adventures , i would love to sup some Tassie rivers , its on my buckett list walk the southcoast track and sup some wild rivers.
Hi there,
I have done some grade 1 paddling and use a glass blade and alloy shaft for whitewater .If there are lots of rocks on the course your blade needs to be strong and will get lots of chips.I leave the more expensive carbon paddle for flatwater and surf.
Regards
C4 Waterman do a paddle specifically designed for rapids and whitewater SUP racing etc
A good compromise would be a carbon shaft and a glass paddle. I think Naish and Starboard both make some good examples at about half the price of the most expensive full carbon paddles.
Out of interest, did you get the C4 River Runner locally and if so, what is the retail on that one?
Kialoa have a new cheaper paddle that has a type of composite/plastic blade that designed for river paddling and pushing off rocks etc.. I have one and like it.
Here's an older post about it..
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Stand-Up-Paddle/SUP/New-cheaper-Kialoa-paddle/?SearchTerms=new,Kialoa,paddle
DJ
Thanks for all the advice guys, it's given me a lot to think about
I'll post some pics up when I can, I hope to get a Go Pro at some point. I live on the Huon river down south in tassie, it's turning out to be a great place to sup. Below my house is lots of flat water which is great for cruising with the kids and speed runs, whereas 10 mins drive upriver and theirs the fun rapids I was talking about earlier.
@ PTWoody i got the board locally from NewcastleSUP, it retails for $1470. We got it for a bit cheaper though as we'd ordered a smaller ISUP but they'd sold out, and asked us if we wanted the River Race for the same price
regards
Ant
