review of the Ke Nalu (Pono Bill) paddle

[NHSUPSurf]

Couple more questions about the xTuf.  Re: xTuf blade, other than added toughness (and a lower price), any other benefits?  And just how much tougher is the blade?  Last question is for Bill and/or Bob, re: shipments to the Northeast, are they completed paddles of various types, or will components be available also?   IOW, if I wanted a Wiki blade with an xTuf shaft, and an extended Ergo-T handle, would I be better off ordering from the website (as opposed to trying to track down that certain combo)?

[RainWaves]

Glad you made it back to HR safe and sound, Bill...
 Received my latest order on Tuesday and in it was a nice little "Thank You" note for being a dealer. What really made it nicer was the fact that it (the note) was hand written. You guys are "Quality One"... Keep up the good work, Ke Nalu. YOU ALL ROCK!!!      Paddle on,     JD

 What JD said, I also thought was very cool. Plus, the hang tags are a nice touch .

 Set up my Molokai this morning and went for a quick paddle before work. (can definitely feel the difference between the Flex 90 shaft and the XTuff!) Made great time upwind to my turn-around point (light wind, but into incoming current), and good speed coming back. Cadence was slower than the Maliko and it felt slower, but the watch doesn't lie. I was on a different board (new BIC 12'6" Touring, review coming soon), but it clocked the same time as my 12' Glide on my 1.3 NM course (3.9 kts). Need to get both paddles out on my 14' Glide and see how they feel there.

[PonoBill]

NH -- Ke Nalu's are ALWAYS just components since they go together with hot glue. A couple of minutes with a hairdryer and you can make any combo you want.

I thought offering components might be hard on dealers since it could make for inventory issues but most of the dealers seem pretty happy with being able to build any paddle a customer wants by swapping around parts.

The xTuf blades handle impacts better because fiberglass generally crushes rather than cracks. When you whack an xTuf blade hard enough you get a soft, fuzzy depression that spreads out the impact force and cushions it. Beats the heck out of knocking a chip out of it, but it's not an improvement to the blade.

Price and impact resistance are the benefits of the xTuf blade--well, that and they're really pretty. The Elite blades are lighter, stronger. and gorgeous, but they don't like impacts.

Rain and JD -- one of the many benefits of having polite, capable and classy women running the company. You wouldn't get those thoughtful niceties from a knucklehead like me.

[Henrik F]

I was out paddling this weekend and had the Maliko. It was lousy weather. Fog, blowing hard from the north and cold as usual. The spring hasn't really arrived in full force just yet. I had to choke down a bit when I paddled upwind and use some power to move. The paddle slightly wobbled when I did that. Then I remembered what people said in this thread. Something about that I shouldn't hold the paddle so hard. I relaxed the grip and... No more wobble! It was as usual. The paddle straightened itself. Brilliant! I still had to paddle hard though but I didn't get so tired in my hands and arms as I would have been holding harder.

Then I got out of the water to have a little rest before going out again. The paddle felt somewhat heavier. Strange? I tipped it from side to side and could hear some water inside the shaft. Took my Wiki for the rest of the day.
When I got home I took my heat gun and removed the blade and emptied the Maliko. This time I when I put the blade back I was very thourogh. I heated everything and put the blade back. Twisted it so that it would be glue everywhere it should and cealed it properly as in the video. I hadn't done it alright the first time and now I had to redo it. Now it is excellent again! I think it is a very good thing to being able to fix something so easy. I wonder what should have happened if my old carbon paddle would take in water in a joint. Probably not that easily corrected.

Thanks again for great paddles!

Henrik F

[stoneaxe]

Henrik...I haven't had any leaks at the blades but I had a leak in one of my handles the other day. I've been adjusting it frequently with all the demos I've been doing and for my own experiments with length.
I think anyone with an extended handle should get themself a hot glue gun too. Easier to add more glue with it than a blow dryer. I pulled out the handle and there was a small rim of glue on the inside of the shaft at the lowest spot the handle inserts. I took it out with a bamboo skewer, added more glue and back together in just a couple of minutes. It really is great to be able to easily work on them yourself if necessary. I think about what I had to do to another paddle when a handle broke (twice)....the reason it's too short for me now....

[PT Woody]

Hey Bill, is there any further updates on the secondary choke handle you were toying with?

[PonoBill]

I've been playing with it a bit, but mostly I've been waiting to get back to Hood River to have access to my machine shop so I can make some better prototypes. I want to make the handle so it can be locked in any position. I'm back now, so I'll get on it.

[PonoBill]

Factory Seconds are up on the site--$50 off the cost of either the blade alone or a complete paddle. As I mentioned before these are cosmetically flawed blades--generally they showed a "dry" spot when they came out of the mold. They've been lightly sanded and clearcoated to eliminate the flaw. They look great, but thats not how we make Elite blades so we sell them as seconds.

Our normal warranty applies except for cosmetic issues. One reason we don't use clear coat on our elite blades is that may yellow if it's exposed to a lot of UV. The blades look great, they weigh about 20 grams more and are a bit more scuff and scratch resistant--especially the logo since it's under the clearcoat. Our normal logo is screened directly onto the blade and scratches pretty easily.

Go to the site, select the products tab and select Specials

Limited supplies, when we're out, we're out until we accumulate another bunch.

Wiki: 17
Maliko: 94
Molokai: 41

[Boludo]

Bill,

Just put my order in!  Thanks!

I'm excited about the Wiki.  I currently have the Methane but wanted a smaller paddle for surf and to relieve a little bit of stress on lower to mid back area.

[juandoe]

Shipping for a blade seems a bit steep at 35.  Is the website using an algorithm for a whole paddle?

[PonoBill]

yeah, got to fix that.

[PonoBill]

I forgot to mention, if you've been considering adding an xTuf shaft you might want to use the Custom Paddle builder on the "specials" page and get a whole paddle with a factory second blade. That winds up being $285 for the whole package vs. $187 for a shaft. Pick a different blade and handle than the one you have and you have 8 possible combinations and two paddles. That appeals to my penny-pincher heart.

I'm pretty pleased with the xTuf shafts. We're going to have a slightly stiffer one soon too. I think it will come in about 90Flex. We'll probably discontinue our 60Flex and have 100Flex, 90Flex in 3K Twill, and 80Flex and 70 Flex in unidirectional bias wound.

[Dwight (DW)]

I'm pretty pleased with the xTuf shafts. We're going to have a slightly stiffer one soon too. I think it will come in about 90Flex. We'll probably discontinue our 60Flex and have 100Flex, 90Flex in 3K Twill, and 80Flex and 70 Flex in unidirectional bias wound.

Funny, I was thinking just the other day. The xTuf is so good, some of those other shafts could go away.

Didn't Fiberspar use reflex energy as a sales pitch to market their most expensive masts back in the day?

xTuf = major reflex energy 

[Boludo]

I forgot to mention, if you've been considering adding an xTuf shaft you might want to use the Custom Paddle builder on the "specials" page and get a whole paddle with a factory second blade. That winds up being $285 for the whole package vs. $187 for a shaft. Pick a different blade and handle than the one you have and you have 8 possible combinations and two paddles. That appeals to my penny-pincher heart.

I'm pretty pleased with the xTuf shafts. We're going to have a slightly stiffer one soon too. I think it will come in about 90Flex. We'll probably discontinue our 60Flex and have 100Flex, 90Flex in 3K Twill, and 80Flex and 70 Flex in unidirectional bias wound.

So I'm a little confused. This is what I did with my order, let me know if I should have done it differently. Wiki second blade, ergo T, and xTuf.

[PonoBill]

Looks good to me. You'll be fine, Josh.

Oh, and I meant to say 80Flex for the stiffer xTuf. We'll see though. I'm pretty pumped about the xTuf shafts, and they are lighter than I thought. I'll have component weights up shortly. xTuf with a Wiki is a surprisingly good combination. Pulls like butter.