Anyone know of a bent shaft polo paddle?

[Eric]

I've switched to a bent shaft paddle for whitewater and love it. I'm wondering if anyone makes a bent shaft paddle for kayak polo. Can you email me if you know of one? I don't check this message board often.

Thanks,
Eric

[Eric]

bessette@msn.com

[michielv]

Not sure if a bent shaft is useful in polo but you
could try to order a custom paddle. Most manufacturers
assemble paddles upon order anyway so my guess is that
ordering a bent shaft with poloblades instead of rodeo/
white water blades should not involve extra costs (at
least not much).

Just make sure that you explain to the manufacter that
you want a shaft like the Lendal HPS or something.

Just a thought: it seems to me that the parts where the
shaft bends are pretty vulnerable to the high impact blows
all polo gear has to endure. You might find that a bent
shaft breaks very easily. But that is just a guess.

Cheers,

Michiel

[clyde]

I think what you actaully want to ask retailers is do they sell crank or modified crank shafts.

In terms of how strong they are...
I don't think the Aluminium ones are as strong as the composite ones. Chris Arrowsmith in my team (Dragon) usually break them on the straight section, as opposed to the angled joint.

Like MV above says, you can just buy you "bent" shaft from whoever sold you the first one (assuming it wasn't an all in one paddle) and get them to insert polo blades into your prefered shaft.

Lendal (info@lendal.com) make cranked shafts. Try them, pr contact a retailer who would have other contacts.

Clyde