# Lendal paddle review: a tale of two blades



## deepsouthpaddler (Apr 14, 2004)

For many a moon, my old aquabound breakdown spent 99.5% of its time in the back of my creekboat, ready for the time it was needed. Up until a week ago it was only used once by a friend on the class II/III paddle out of bailey, where it saved lots of hiking time. I felt comfortable that I had the standard breakdown / pin kit etc with me to keep things safe.

Two weekends ago I broke my paddle 2 miles into the big south and busted out the aquabound to make it down the remaining 10 miles. It was flimsy, shaky, lacking in power, and a big adjustment from my werner blades. I was a nervous and felt a bit sketchy and had some trouble making moves I would normally have no problem with. Don't get me wrong, the aquabound delivers what you would expect for the price (cheap), but the experience of using it on challenging whitewater made me vow to get a decent breakdown and never repeat that experience again.

During the week I got a Lendal 4 piece breakdown with kinetix blades and a bentshaft. I put it to the test last weekend on the big south. The difference was amazing. The lendal felt solid in my hands and not flimsy like the aquabound. The lendal comes with the ability to fine tune the offset angle so that you can set it to 45, 30, whatever you want. I paddle with a bentshaft normally, so there is no awkwardness going back to a straight shaft. The locking mechanism is solid and very easy and way more bomber than the simple push button spring loaded jobs on most breakdowns.

Overall the lendal felt like a "real" paddle, not a shaky breakdown. The tips of the blades gave a bit on rocks, but that didn't really bother me. In a way I prefer the blades to give a bit on rocks than to have the impact transmitted straight to the shoulder joint (ouch). The grip of the bent shaft is slightly narrower than the standard werner grip I had been using, but I was able to grip the lendal on the outermost portion of the bent grip to get the width grip I was used to. Overall I felt solid and confident with the paddle, it had good power, boof strokes were solid and predictable, braces were solid. Good all the way around.

There are a few quirks with the blades. Werner blades kink out for the bent shaft and kink back in before the blades so that the center of gravity of the paddle is in line with the middle of the staight section of shaft. The lendal bends down for the grips and never bends back "up" at the blades. The result is that the center of gravity of the blades are offset and you feel that the blades want to drop down when you are holding the paddle. While paddling hard, you don't notice this at all, but when holding the blades, taking a pause or taking light stokes it is noticable. I think this is minor and does not really impact performace, just noticeably different.

So the lendal gets two big thumbs up for a breakdown. Its a good enough paddle that I would consider using one as my primary paddle as well, although I haven't made up my mind there yet. I'd highly recommend the lendal for folks who don't want to be caught short with a shitty breakdown when they are paddling water at the upper end of their difficulty range. Its double the cost of the aquabound but worth every penny. I'd hate to have to hike out of a run because I just got demoted to a shitty paddle. 

Anyway, I read lots about the Lendals before I got one, so this isn't really news, but I thought I would give my vote of confidence.

I like the confidence of knowing that I won't have to repeat the harrowing experience of paddling with a shitty paddle if (when) mine breaks again.


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## Dave Frank (Oct 14, 2003)

I've been meaning to get one or better yet two of those as myself. Having your backup match your main paddle would be a nice feature. Also great for those who travel on planes with their gear. What did you end up spending on it?


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## deepsouthpaddler (Apr 14, 2004)

Dave,

There are a couple of options for shafts (straight vs. bent) and blades (carbon, carbon/nylon, fiberglass etc) that change the resulting price. I got the carbon / nylon blades, which are supposed to be the most durable but are higher priced. I also got the bent shaft which is more costly than the straight I would assume. Mine totalled around $360 before tax if I remember correctly. Didn't really think about the travel issues, but thats another big plus. I got mine from confluence and they have a few more in stock.

The bentshafts come in predetermined lengths. I think you can adjust the length of the straigh shafts.

Great paddle!


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## yourrealdad (May 25, 2004)

I thought that lendals went extinct? Our own riverwrangler couldn't even get one for a while.

If Werner is listening: Make a bentshaft powerhouse breakdown please. It would be the greatest paddle ever concieved by a mere mortal.


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## danger (Oct 13, 2003)

i got a lendal last summer to use as a back up and haven't used anything else since. now i need a breakdown. and travel is great. i flew out east last spring w/ a lendal and a pair of hand paddles as a back up. loved loving it. and still lovin' it.


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## deepsouthpaddler (Apr 14, 2004)

I first called CKS about the lendal parts I was looking into. They quoted me a 1-2 month back order from lendal. If you want them, it may take a while. I lucked out that confluence had the exact parts in stock that I was looking for, which surprised me as I didn't think they would even stock them.


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## huckTHIS (Nov 4, 2003)

I love my Lendal - been using it all this season and it has held up much better than my werner powerhouse did (those blades start disappearing on day one). I think Lendal's did disappear for a little while - they were having a problem with importing them, but they have started up a shop to make them in the US now, and they are popping up at kayak shops everywhere. I will definately get another one and stash the old one in the boat.


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## Bean801 (Aug 6, 2008)

I also just bought a Lendal - also 4 piece breakdown with kinetix blades and a bentshaft. I bought the paddle to use while traveling. Normally, I paddle a Werner Sherpa bentshaft.

Now then, today was to be the maiden voyage of the paddle and yesterday I noticed that the position of my hands (the grip) is quite a bit narrower than the Werner. Did some searching on the internet and saw deepsouthpaddler's first post and a comment on this.

For the same length paddle (197cm), I'd say that my hands are inset 2-3cm towards center on each side - this is even gripping the paddle on the outermost edge. My so-called "paddler's box" now doesn't look right and I'm wondering what the right answer is.

Should I look for a longer paddle? Am I missing something about the ergonomics here? Thoughts??


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## deepsouthpaddler (Apr 14, 2004)

Bean,

The grip is indeed narrower than the standard werner grip. I grip the 197 lendal at the outermost portion of the bent shaft kink and it feel like its in the right spot, and it doesn't feel weird. Just keep moving your hands out wider until you feel solid. Worked for me.


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## Bean801 (Aug 6, 2008)

Deepsouth,
Thanks for your reply. The place that feels correct to me is to grip the paddle at the extreme edge of where the elastic-like "grip" is on the paddle. On the right hand side, this only leaves two fingers on the bulge that provides positive indexing and it seems that my other two fingers are starting to round the bend of the bent-shaft. Is this where you end up as well?
Thanks for the clarification


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## deepsouthpaddler (Apr 14, 2004)

Yep. Thats where I end up too. It doesn't feel too weird to me. Seems to work ok. My preference would be to have the bent shaft grip wider, but its an order of magnitude better than my old breakdown.


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## jtnc (Aug 9, 2004)

I'll chime in as well that the Lendal is a nice paddle, but
I have found I tend to get more flutter out of it than I
do with the Werner Sidekick. Whether true or not, I 
also feel like I got more power out of a Werner paddle
blade shape (or AT for that matter) than out of the
Kinetik blades, not much but I have slightly better 
acceleration with the Werner. 

I do know I hit rocks more with the new Lendal, but it's
also 3cm longer than the the Werner was when it was 
new, so that's probably closer to 10cm difference now 

It does have a great locking system, and the ability to play
with paddle offsets is nifty too.

John


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## ibyakn (Jul 18, 2007)

*Diggin the Lendal*

I have been paddling a Lendal for eight years and love it. My big reason was for international trips where the four pieces come in handy, obviously. After that trip it is all I use. I prefer the Fusion blade, which is plenty powerful enough for my taste.

It is my understanding that Johnson Outdoors is struggling to keep up with manufacturing after purchasing Lendal and moving manufacturing to the States (from Scotland). Hopefully they get it on track soon. Rutabaga in Madison, WI also stocks Lendal so they are worth a call if CKS and local shops do not have it stocked.

Do not worry Nessie - it is a Lendal!

Cheers,

Mark


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## jorge (Dec 23, 2003)

*Dissapointed*

 I've had a Lendal for sea-kayaking since 2001 and loved it, so when they started making 4-pc whitewater paddles I grabbed one prior to a 2007 Mexican whitewater tour. I liked it sooo much it became my primary travel paddle, and I just bought another one from CKS prior to a Grand Canyon trip this July.
Unfortunately, while my Lendals *were *great for the low to medium volume technical rapids I've used them on previously, they were no match for the big water hydraulics of the Colorado in the canyon. On day one I snapped my tried & true (197cm CF bentshaft with the carbon kinetik blades) Lendal like a twig in the first wavetrain at Beaver Creek. No rocks, just bracing in the wavetrain. I was obviously dissapointed, but since I had my 2nd Lendal spare I wasn't too concerned. Until I snapped that one in a wavetrain in Granite a couple of days later. I was able to paddle out of the rapid single bladed, but having broked 2 Lendals in 2 relatively easy rapids really had me worried!
I started looking at the spares my friends had brought along, and they all looked way too flimsy. So I took the undamaged portions of the 2 broken paddles and was able to construct one whole (but slightly off balance) paddle which I used for the rest of the trip, taking special care to be exceedingly gentle with it.
Moral of the story? I still like Lendals, but will never use one as a main paddle on a trip again, especially on big water rivers. I still think it's one of the best 4-pc take-aparts ever made though.
Mike


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