review of the Ke Nalu (Pono Bill) paddle

[Boludo]

My xTuf Wiki Kenalu just arrived.  I will hit the surf tomorrow and give review.  So far I like it.  Beautiful paddle and I like the little ribs keeping the paddle from slipping.

[jdmotes]

My xTuf Wiki Kenalu just arrived.  I will hit the surf tomorrow and give review.  So far I like it.  Beautiful paddle and I like the little ribs keeping the paddle from slipping.

You're gonna love the "Wicked Wiki", Boludo (wicked because it's wickedly fast in your hands)... She's a very 'snappy' little thing that I like a little more each time I surf with her... I have both the Elite Maliko (100f) and the x-Tuf Wiki and can't get over that snap you get from the Wiki (IMHO)...      Paddle on,     JD

[NHSUPSurf]

So for all you folks who are loving the 'x-Tuf Wiki', did you get the x-Tuf blade too, or just the x-Tuf shaft.  Wondering if there is much of a difference between the 2 blades when running the x-Tuf shaft.

[NHSUPSurf]

PB,
What is this 'secondary choke handle' that I've hear about?  Is that going to be a 'adjust while in the water' type deal?

Any ballpark idea when those might come to market?

[PonoBill]

Adjust on the fly. I like it mostly as a rest--a way to change the arms and shoulder muscles I'm engaging. You can see why if you put your hand in the upper handle position as you hold a T, then rotate it as you would if you held the shaft. The weakness of a "chocked down" hold is controlling the blade, but if you stop trying to control it a Ke Nalu blade pulls striaght anyway. The second weakness is that you have to grip the shaft to keep your hand from sliding. A flared handle (like modern ski pole grips) helps that. So that's about it. Coming soon to a Ke Nalu dealer near you.

[SUPerstitious]

So for all you folks who are loving the 'x-Tuf Wiki', did you get the x-Tuf blade too, or just the x-Tuf shaft.  Wondering if there is much of a difference between the 2 blades when running the x-Tuf shaft.

I have the Maliko xTuf blade on xTuf shaft. Didn't see the weight difference as any issue, so the added cost for an all carbon blade wasn't very appealing to me. 

The weight of this paddle is unreal. I don't recall the specific number, but it was sub 550 grams when cut with the ergo handle. I think it might have been 535g.

I mainly surf, so if the added benefits of fiberglass blades are as advertised, for me, this is a great paddle.

[soepkip]

I would also like to get myself one of these paddles but I live in the Netherlands.

I had a look at Bongo:

That is a lot of money!

I saw there is Norwegian Distributor but what about the rest of Europe?

[Area 10]

Yep, PB - how is progress going with getting this gear to Europe? You asked a while ago for suggestions for dealers (rather than distributors) in the UK, and I PM'ed you one. But he says that he hasn't heard anything.

He sells stuff to people from all over Europe, and it wouldn't be any harder for him - or someone else - to sell to soepkip in the Netherlands than to someone in the UK. As I'm sure you already know, there are no sales tax/import issues with sellng between different countries within Europe.

Currently, the price of getting a Ke Nalu paddle here would make it easily the most expensive paddle you could buy - by some margin. That is tough when there is no chance to see or try one first, and there are cheaper and well-trusted premium brands readily available who have a good history of customer service etc.

How about making it a bit easier for us to give you our hard-earned cash?

[PonoBill]

I'll get back to work on it. I though Bongo was going to be more of a solution than it is. Sorry to be so slow, but this is a bootstrap startup.

[RainWaves]

 I ordered a Wiki a few days ago, so I'll have all 3 blades on hand and available for people to check out and try. All of this 42 degree (air temp) and rain isn't very good for getting folks out on the water quite yet though. At least the water has warmed up to 45!
 
 I've reserved our local pool for a 2 hour block on the Saturday, the 19th, so I can have my first "Demo Night". Hopefully this will give some interested people a chance to try Stand Up without going into cardiac arrest when they fall in .

[PonoBill]

Sheesh, and I'm feeling brave about falling into the 50 degree Columbia

Hey, Area 10, I did send Simon an email back on March 12, no reply. Perhaps there is a better email for him--I used
sales@2xs.co.uk

And while it might be a little cumbersome, our friends in Norway just received a small shipment (15 paddles). I don't know what shipping would be from Norway, but I guess you wouldn't have to worry about import duties:

Norway, Sweden, and Denmark
aloha.no AS +47 40004555
e-mail: surf@aloha.no
http://aloha.no

[SUPpaddler]

Just got my xTuf shaft (with Maliko 2nd) to supplement my Wiki/90% shaft. 

Updating my previous flex measurements comparing the QB SSI-36 shaft (supplied with 90 sq. in. blades) and the KeNalu 90% shaft, the xTuf shows significantly more flex:

Deflection at center of 50 inch section starting 4" up from blade end under 35 lb load.

QB SSI-36 shaft  -- 0.53 inches
KeNalu 90% shaft -- 0.54 inches
KeNalu xTuf shaft -- 0.94 inches

Now I can't decide whether to put the xTuf on on the Wiki or the Maliko.  Should I go for an all-out easy on the joints combo with the Wiki, or balance out the stiffer Maliko with the xtTuff?

[PonoBill]

Takes ten minutes to swap them out. Try it both ways. You do need to try the wiki combo, just for curiosity's sake. It's a very strange feeling. As one of my friends said: "I forgot I was paddling".  It's oddly smooth, though smooth isn't really the right word.

[SUPpaddler]

One consideration in swapping blades is that the Maliko blade is an inch longer than the Wiki.  I do have an extended handle, but I'm still trying to preserve the length of the shaft at the upper end where the most flex would be.  I guess that means I should start my new xTuf shaft with the Wiki and see if I like it before cutting it down for the Maliko blade.

If you ever have have time, as these paddles go more mainstream, you might need to make a table that gives recommended blade/shaft combos based on paddler height on one axis and usage (race, cruise, surf, downwind) on the other axis.  Each block in the table could have a diagonal division with recommended shaft on top and blade on bottom.

[PonoBill]

We're working on one, mostly for dealers. Several of our dealers are particularly entranced with the customer service aspect of helping a customer put together a very customized paddle. Some of these folks are running way ahead of us. When we did the "custom paddle" option on the website several dealers were really pleased because it makes it easy for them to balance inventory. All they need to do is  include the custom paddles in the next order that they created for a customers by swiping an xTuf shaft and mating it to an Elite blade. The customer gets the paddle right away and they get the replacement parts to maintain their inventory at maximum discount. I guess that's kind of obvious but I didn't think of it.

I assumed dealers would think building a custom paddle was a pain, but so far every one I've talked to is enthusiastic. They consider the consulting element to be a critical part of gaining loyal customers. I guess my lack of a retail background is showing. Sounds great to me--it's why I shop at specialty stores instead of big box.