Hi Tortise,
I originally had a South Point paddle which is know known effectionately as "The Crow Bar" These paddles had very little blade angle, were relatively heavy ( by todays standards) had a dihedral faced blade which on this paddle IMO effected blade efficiency ( wasted power stroke) and the blade for me was way too wide.
The wide blade did not allow me to get the board moving fast enough to get onto many of the waves I paddled for. It was a bit like driving a car in 4th gear I guess.
In many cases I would actually pull myself off the board when paddling hard to get on to a wave.
I then tried a Kialoa Methane and a Kialoa Shaka Pu. I found the narrower Methane suited my paddle style as it allowed me to get the board moving really quickly and over night it quadruppled my ability to catch waves. It was more like starting in 1st gear if you like. It has less flex than the crowbar which I like and it was less than 1/2 the weight which makes a huge difference to fatigue because we often SUP for 4 - 6 hours at a time.
The Methane has significantly more blade angle which allows a far more efficient power stroke as it catches water earlier, the blade angle also allows more leverage when turning as you can effectively push water and it enters and leaves the water far more efficently.
The face of the Methane is flat and for me seems to work far better than the dihedral shape favoured by some shapers. The flat face has a major draw back in that it shimmies in the water side to side on a hard power stroke, but I have adjusted to this and it no longer worries me.
The Methane also has sharp edges that can and will cut into the rails unless you tape them well so you need to watch out for that.
I have also tried out one of the narrow quickblade paddles and found it to be excellent.
Rod Hocker Surf Shapes hand crafts excellent paddles to any size or shape you want as does Woggie Marsh so you have some excellent local product to choose from as well.
My suggestion is TRY BEFORE YOU BUY see what suites you!
Phill
