review of the Ke Nalu (Pono Bill) paddle

[PNelson]

Totally agree. Had great experience with Jeff at the Costa Mesa location. Maybe their FB guru was on a bender today.

[Strand Leper]

I have used PSW from the beginning and they are pretty good guys.  I even brought my first Ke Nalu to the Dana Point shop to use their fancy blade cutter.  They didn't call it cheap that day and were pretty impressed with the whole hot glue idea.  Mike Roberts and the boys at PSH try really hard... and like I said, are pretty good guys trying to scratch out a living in a tough retail environment.  Stinks that they posted it, but it says something that they pulled it quickly.  

It also speaks volumes that someone there was not aware of the Ke Nalu cult sweeping Standup Nation... something about knowing the competition and the available products.  They are pretty big into Quick Blade, but you've got to know the competition, especially the upstarts... it is what you do for a living, after all!

I am going to go ahead and given them a Mulligan.  But I am not the maker of the paddles whose product was challenged.

[PonoBill]

A Mulligan for sure. It IS a weird way to ship a paddle--unique to us. I don't expect everyone to understand. Then again, I've never had anyone look at our parts and call them cheap. But they are right about one thing,  we really should include a brochure that explains how to put them together. The dealer versions have hang tags that at least direct people to the website for the video. We're running kind of hard and fast, but there's no good reason not to have directions in the box five months after we started shipping.

Another item for the To Do list.

[all~wet]

I couldn't help but respond that I think Pono Bills response is dead on.

Rather than a knee-jerk, defensive response to criticism... which is easy to have with something one has put his blood sweat and tears into... he was gracious as well as intelligent enough to wait a few days to think about it, look past some of the other stuff and see a customer complaint that may have merit. A simple how to brochure sounds like a good idea, particularly for someone new to the sport or who is buying or receiving the paddle as a gift.

I already wanted to get my hands on one, but even more so now.  Good on-ya!

[stoneaxe]

I hope they didn't epoxy it for the customer....

[PonoBill]

I was working on getting the components stuff up on the website when my hosting provider went down. Time to switch, these guys are losing it. But the component stuff should be all up tomorrow.

I also came up with a new "recipe" that I really love--Elite Molokai blade, xTuf shaft, and Extened Ergo-T handle. I'm so thrilled with it for downwinding that we're going to make it available as a standard paddle, though anyone that already has an Elite Molokai could just add an xTuf shaft to have that option. I'll describe it later, Diane is getting ready for me to take her to dinner and it's looking like the final touches have been added. My prep is easier, rinse the salt off, put on clean shorts and a semi-clean T-Shirt. It's 4th Friday in Paia tonight. Should be fun.

[paddlenorcal]

I was working on getting the components stuff up on the website when my hosting provider went down. Time to switch, these guys are losing it. But the component stuff should be all up tomorrow.

I also came up with a new "recipe" that I really love--Elite Molokai blade, xTuf shaft, and Extened Ergo-T handle. I'm so thrilled with it for downwinding that we're going to make it available as a standard paddle, though anyone that already has an Elite Molokai could just add an xTuf shaft to have that option. I'll describe it later, Diane is getting ready for me to take her to dinner and it's looking like the final touches have been added. My prep is easier, rinse the salt off, put on clean shorts and a semi-clean T-Shirt. It's 4th Friday in Paia tonight. Should be fun.

Totally wish i was at 4th friday and not in california. enjoy.

[headmount]

Pono let me use his XTuf shaft yesterday on our downwind run.  I was blown away by the feel.  Softer than my shaft (I think I have the stiffest) but much more alive.   Trying to find the right word.  Spring, snap, whatever, it was amazingly powerful despite its flex.  And of course flex takes it easier on your shoulders.  Great combo with the Molokai.

[AJR]

Pono let me use his XTuf shaft yesterday on our downwind run.  I was blown away by the feel.  Softer than my shaft (I think I have the stiffest) but much more alive.   Trying to find the right word.  Spring, snap, whatever, it was amazingly powerful despite its flex.  And of course flex takes it easier on your shoulders.  Great combo with the Molokai.

I have so many rude comments to make but I fear I'll offend someone so I'll just leave it alone...

[spookini]

Nothing rude about it.  That's a whole lotta manlove for the shaft of a man in his 60's!!   

[PonoBill]

Wow, I just reread that and just about fell out of the chair. Hilarious!!

I'm keeping my shaft to myself from now on. I can't believe Randy and PDX weren't all over that. No, not the shaft, the post, err, that is, the comment, the thing HM typed.

[PonoBill]

All the components are up on Ke Nalu. Except the Ergo-T handle, I need to get a decent photo of one. I don't have any here in Maui. Sold them all. Maybe Hi Tech still has one I can shoot.

Took forever to do, but it all works, and it works for dealers too. I think I gave myself a bit of eyestrain. I'm sure there's some errors, if you see anything let me know. This is going to play hob with our inventory system, but we'll work through it. It was just too good an idea to resist.

It's a unique thing, being able to radically change you paddle without buying a new one. Lots of tuning opportunities. Switching from a Wiki to a Molokai with just a hair dryer is pretty interesting. My personal paddles morph constantly. Nice to be able to offer that opportunity to our customers.

[PonoBill]

Got the Molokai Downwinder paddle up too. A little $40 price break with the cheaper shaft (yeah, our 3K Twill shafts are expensive). I'm loving this thing. Whoda thunk it. Out in some small bumps yesterday and I caught everything I went for. I need to figure out what's going on here. I tried a 60 Flex with the Molokai blade, and it was good for surfing but didn't feel that good on downwinders. Might be something to do with the unidirectional carbon instead of the 3K twill.

Mine is a bit porky at 606 grams (21.3 ounces) with tape, that's still lighter than most Elite race paddles, but I feel that extra 100 grams in the flatwater, but as soon as you start going for swells it just doesn't matter.

I think it's the steady and extended power stored in the flex that makes it so good. It really feels like it's launching me. And instead of three strokes to get a big swell I think I'm only taking two and reaching further. Whatever, it's really different and effective. I'm going to have to make up another one of these to let people try it. I don't want to share mine.

[SUPpaddler]

Looks terrific.  The component idea is very attractive.  It would nice to see the component weights as well.  I know some of them are scattered around the web site in other places.

A question is whether, on the whole paddle page, the xTuf shaft should be selectable as one of shaft options even for the (otherwise) Elite paddles (still at the Elite paddle price).  Seems like it might be an option for someone wanting more flex to protect their joints but not concerned about having a sturdier blade.

[headmount]

Geeze, I posted my last on this thread late last night, reread this morning... incredible what a twist of the mind can conjure with a different light on it.  Had to laugh at myself.  More than slightly embarrassed.