Fanatic Innegra Carbon 80 is a good value, quality paddle at around $299.
For the same money you can also get the JP Carbon. I demoed these back to back. Both felt very similar. Nice paddles.
Of the two I thought the Fanatic was slightly better finished.

Or you can take the next step up to around the $500 mark, and go for Ke Nalu, Quickblade, Kialoa.


Plenty to choose from

Hello mickyj , for what it's worth I have never had a big brand paddle . I just can't justify the big money as I would rather spend it on a good board . I bought a tucker board paddle for $200 , full carbon , had it for 3 years and it hasn't missed a beat .

My paddle came with my first $700 SUP so I would guess it is nothing fancy - I believe it is carbon though. It is 8" across the blade, fixed length, but the shaft has a bit of an oval shape that I do like. I just went to the Quickblade Web site - I had no idea there were so many to choose from!! Has anyone bought a paddle and noticed a significant improvement? (I am only personally concerned with surfing performance.)

cantSUPenough said..Has anyone bought a paddle and noticed a significant improvement? (I am only personally concerned with surfing performance.)

Yes, of course! Among the benefits of a better surfing paddle:
- Lighter. My surf paddle is now 350g, and it is day and night compared to an heavier one.
- Just enough flex to not have sore joints after a 5 hour session
- More fluid when leaning on it in turns. With good surf paddles, you feel like you are actually surfing with the blade rather than just dragging it in the water
- A cleaner water entry, meaning that there is minimal air bubbles brought along the blade on the catch, so that you get a firm anchor to pull on for take offs. If the blade is surrounded by air in the water, it will not provide a solid traction to haul oneself on.

As everything is a compromise, the drawbacks of a surf-specialized paddle can be for racing/cruising:
- Less efficient: typically the profile is thicker and curvier to provide fluidity in the surf, so it displaces more water on each stroke.
- More flutter: again for fluidity, there is no dihedral and other features to anchor the blade laterally
- Not as rigid as a typical racing paddle, so less "direct drive"

Can anyone advise how heavy a good quality carbon paddle should be? I must admit the tucker one sounds good at 200.00 bucks.

Thanks fellas now to call these guys at tucker and find out what the tucker ones weigh.... The website said 2 kg...an obvious error

For those interested I've called Tucker boards, they have advised that the hull carbon is slightly under 600 grams......sounds good for a cheapo like me

one company - Quick Blade

After snapping a few paddles in quick succession I was sold a beasty NP paddle. I just had a look on their website, and cant find it though....



But its a beast, and has copped some serious floggings but is still going strong

so i get hold of my new one piece 350 dollar paddle , get up at 5.30 to have a paddle , put my blade in the drink and start pulling the paddle back and the end handle comes off the shaft .so off to work in a serious mood .we put men on the moon , i just want a paddle .

The shop glued it .Taking it back today , and hope to be right to go for tomorrow morning .