Shaft

[Mattw]

Where are people getting their shafts from now that Lendal have become difficult to deal with?

I'm looking for something that will stand up to goal keeping abuse but is relatively light for my spare blades.

[fizzy]

Hi Matt,
We've had the same problem in Scotland. Many clubs have recently bought shafts and blades from PowerplayPaddles.com who apparently used to source from Lendal and have now seemingly found an alternative supplier. They have a range of different types, including ones for goalkeepers.
The website doesn't seem to be up to date at the moment but if you get hold of George on the scotland part of the forum he should be able to help.
I can recommend them (all my team use them!) Hope this helps.

[gavin]

I'm using Clyde's "Hi-Grade" shaft http://www.clydespolopage.com/ClydesPoloKit/shafts.htm

Ignore the weight it is actually heavier than the G2F, but is utterly solid against what few hard shots I've managed to stop. I haven't actually tried this but I would be confident in saying I could do pull ups off the shaft (I'm 70kg).

The only gripe I have with the Hi-Grade is it's very stiff, which means if you're not careful you could very easily injure your shoulder (I have) as the force of your stroke can be transmitted straight into your shoulder. The other thing with such a stiff shaft is it sometimes makes hard shots harder to block as less energy from the ball is absorbed. A lot of the time this leads to my paddle being knocked out of my hands completely, but it's probably more a matter of my (lack of) technique than anything else.

[alison_b016]

Hi Matt,
Many clubs have recently bought shafts and blades from PowerplayPaddles.com. They have a range of different types, including ones for goalkeepers.

I bought my paddles from powerplay about a year ago and they have stood up really well.

I play as goalkeeper and find them really light to use. I would recommend the larger blade that powerplay do if you're looking for a goalkeepers paddle and asking for their goal keepers shaft.

I've attached pictures of both sides of the blade to give you a closer look

[Steve Carter]

Id have to agree wi alison and the powerplaypaddle blades. Ive been playing in goals recently even though i usually play up front and the shaft has held up really well. The shaft i have absorbs most of the power from really hard shots and is really maneouverable due to its weight (light as a feather lol).

[julienP]

tou can also play with the Double Dutch Shaft whis is a good one no???

[Steve Carter]

Double Dutch shafts are also really good but i'd advise you not to get one thats too rigid. My DD rigid shaft broke after a hard shot. Get one wi some flex.

[michielv]

Humm, I've had two (new!) DD shafts break within half an hour of use so those were the last ones I will ever use again. Besides, I don't like the 'feel' of the shaft. I'm not sure what it is though. For the record, I have owned and (played with) a paddle with DD shaft for over a year. That particular shaft was reasonably okay but two out of three breaking very easily was not a good sign of quality to me.

Too bad Lendal stopped making the poloshafts. The Bracsa paddles are supposedly okay though.

[julienP]

in france most of the national 1 play with DD shafts and deventer too.

[michielv]

Humm, I've had two (new!) DD shafts break within half an hour of use so those were the last ones I will ever use again. Besides, I don't like the 'feel' of the shaft. I'm not sure what it is though. For the record, I have owned and (played with) a paddle with DD shaft for over a year. That particular shaft was reasonably okay but two out of three breaking very easily was not a good sign of quality to me.

Too bad Lendal stopped making the poloshafts. The Bracsa paddles are supposedly okay though.

Just to make one thing clear: this all happened about 9 years ago (1999). Because of the quality consistency issues DD had at the time (ask Martin van Arkens of DKV and he can tell you stories..) I switched to the blue sky pole shafts Mega was selling at the time (the same ones used on older Werner paddles). These shafts are close to bomb-proof but alas, not available anymore.

So it is quite possible (and even likely) that DD has improved production but I have moved on and although I occaissionally tried DD freestlye paddles (two brand new Protons in 2007) I prefer other brands.

Another option may be the Robson black glas/sky pole shafts. Close to where I live is a kayak store that just about always has Robson whitewater paddles (Green/Stud etc.) on sale (99 euro's I think). That shaft is a bit flexible (like the Werner sky pole ones) but can withstand a lot of damage. Those shafts are mounted inside the blades (contrary to most polo blades where a peg is mounted inside the shaft) so you can easily take a saw to remove the blades and use the shaft. Just make sure you buy a paddle with a shaft that is long enough for polo ;)

Just my :twocents:

[RIP]

RIP Isaac Hayes

[michielv]

in france most of the national 1 play with DD shafts and deventer too.

Do they really use DD shafts or just the blades? Overhere in Holland the DD Kinetic paddles were also available (from Felix, the kayakshop that originally made the legendary Felix poloboats) with Lendal shafts.

[Diewertje]

The deventer guys aren't that happy with the DD paddles. Their keeper broke 2 of them during the World Championships this year. Heared them complain about DD, so maybe their shafts where from DD too

[nutterwatts]

here's what I know :)

The blue 'skypole' shafts are still being manufactured, you can get them here: http://www.sky-pole.com/index.html however I don't know in what quantities! but I always found them heavy.

Lendal are still selling their shaft's to retailers just not direct to public anymore, I know Joe Wormsley can still get hold of them.

DD shafts used to be a thin skypole wrapped in carbon, the company who made this for them stopped doing them. so they have been trying other manufacturers, I use a slalom shaft from DD, the first one I had lasted for a couple of years before it broke, recently I have broken a couple but these were lightweight slalom shafts and not really up to the job. They have recently found a new supplier so the shaft's should be stronger.

I bet the DD blade broke across the back? I have seen a number of these recently. when I pressed DD I found out that they have been trying different layup's on the blades, it would have been nice if they told us earlier, they have now reverted back to the original layup which in my view was the strongest.

Cheers

Steve

[George]

Hi Nutter

Lendal are still selling to retailers, but speaking from a retailers point, they will only deal with companies who will order a certain amount and believe me its more than any British company would be willing to handle. They also have supply issues. Joe Wormsley (your words not mine, may have been a spelling mistake) must have some old stock.

We (powerplaypaddles) can supply kev carbon equivilant to the old lendal HPS and also a carbon in 12k weave which is the direct replacement to the 2F. We do crank kev/carb and others with both built in grips or not.
We have had no instances of the new shafts snapping (yet) and they are being both at club level and at International.

As for paddles, Sorry to say that we stopped buying DD as they couldnt give us consistent quality, both shafts and blades. We do supply other models of which we have no issues on these matters.

Guess it comes down to personal preferance, budget and look.

Good luck in your search

[Lang]

Hi

I would highly recommend the braca shafts althought I do not like their blades. I dont think I ever saw a braca shaft break although I have seen broken examples so it can happen. The shaft is carbon/kevlar and not the lightest around but combined with DD blades it makes up a really good and strong paddle. The spigot of the DD blade does not fit the shaft perfectly so you have to either enhance the diameter of the spigot or put some carbon or other material around it when putting the blade on. Only problem now is that the new DD blades seem to be a rather poor quality and break easily. Find some older DD blades and put them on a braca shaft and you have a bombproof paddle. A Danish squad member has a paddle made up like this which has lasted for 2 years with regular training and around 10-12 tournaments a year including europeans and worlds.

Some of the French players use a shaft which is very similar to the braca shaft but I cannot remember the name and they seem to be very difficult to get a hold of. They had a retailer at last years europeans.


Lang

[michielv]

Hi Nutter
As for paddles, Sorry to say that we stopped buying DD as they couldnt give us consistent quality, both shafts and blades. We do supply other models of which we have no issues on these matters.


Too bad. I do feel sorry for DD and their rep (who approached me after my initial post on the shafts that broke easily 9 years ago) but it seems to me that their quality issues are still not solved.

What about the RoughStuff polo paddles? Are these any good? The Kinetics are on sale overhere for a very reasonable price.

[Doubledutch]

For all those who are interested,

We at Double Dutch do think that our quality problems are over. We aim at providing the best quality and best service but unfortunately this is not always possible. If anybody has any problems with our products, or if you have any other questions please contact us directly.
This post is not meant as an advertisement campaign but just to show that we do care about the opinion of you the players.

Everybody please keep posting your opinions on the different products. It's a good way to find out what we should improve. Our latest adjustment is an external grip to improve the strength of the shafts.

Best Regards,

Anton
Double Dutch

P.S. Don't feel sorry for me, I get to sell polo paddles for a living(It's like being a kid in a candyshop ;) )

[michielv]

Our latest adjustment is an external grip to improve the strength of the shafts.


Hi Anton,

Just wondering: isn't this something that has been around for ages? I seem to remember that 10 years ago most shafts (both Lendal and DD) had an external grip to improve strength (which makes a good point though: this way the material does not have to be stretched to cover the grip).

Anyway, keep up the good work and just make sure you check your products thoroughly before they leave the factory.

BTW: I don't envy you for selling polopaddles although I can imagine it to be a lot of fun. As long as you get to paddle regularly, otherwise things get very frustrating :rolleyes:

Cheers,

Michiel

[michielv]

Not trying to smooth-talk myself into becoming a friend of Double Dutch or anything but it's not all bad vibes coming from them:
http://www.canoepolo.com/forum/showthread.php?p=80472#post80472

It looks like they do try and make some decent products. So I guess if we helped out by specifying exactly what we want we may get some top-notch polo shafts from Geldrop!

@Anton: would it help to supply you/DD with a number of samples of polo shafts that have proven reliable (even though not everyone may like a particular layup, that is rather personal of course)? I may have some bits (from shortening shafts) lying around and I could give them to you at the competition in Den Haag?