Z&J 3 Piece travel paddle

[Trace77]

Hello Everyone,

Pretty new here, I've been paddling stand up on the river here in Calgary and whenever I'm in the Okanagan or on the coast for the last couple years. I used to paddle flatwater C1 competitively as well as some outrigger so I have a lot of experience with boats and paddles if not necessarily with SUP. I do have a ton of experience with composites and boat building as I grew up building boats with my dad and I am an engineer who does some work with composites professionally.

I was looking for a 3 piece paddle since most of my paddling here is point to point on a river and I like to take my paddle when I head to a lake or the coast. I looked at the local shops and they had some nice stuff but it seemed pretty pricey for what it was. Having ordered a fair bit of bike stuff (frame and rims included) from China I decided to look around for a paddle. I came a across Z&J paddles and they seemed pretty nice and they had a lot of options so I ordered one through Amazon. It is really nice. The finish is flawless, shaft fits together very securely and there is no slippage at either of the joints. The shaft has a little pop to it, but nothing more that the one piece carbon paddles I have experienced. It weighs a hair shy of 700g. I haven't had it on the water yet as the weather here has been ugly, but I will file a follow up as soon as I get a couple days on it. Really other than the vagaries of blade shape which are pretty personal, I can't see any surprises. 

I ordered the WM blade with the 2 bolt clamps. Thats 22.8cm by 44cm for a total of 684 cm2. It's a pretty big blade but I like the broad entry for early catch, especially here on the river when I have one of my kids on the board. Personal preference I know and not a very common one, but they have a lot of options. I'll see how this one works out for the rest of the summer and if it is good I'll probably order a few more including some for the kids.