Odachi

This review is specific to the bent shaft Odachi. The bent shaft gives a natural feel to your grip while the oblong cross sectional shape of the shaft allows you to control it securely with a looser grip. With traditional paddles I always had elbow and hand pain after a long day of paddling, that does not happen with the Odachi. The forward stroke with this paddle is powerful and smooth, the offset blades give you good water contact throughout the stroke. You can easily get your boat up to speed with fewer strokes and maintain your speed with a lower cadence than other paddles. This paddle does have a learning curve though. You need to re-learn how to apply draw strokes, Dufeks, etc. They work fine, but are a bit different. Backward strokes are not great with any offset blade paddle, but I try to avoid backward strokes in general. As Werner warns on their web site, rolling is different. The blade is large and highly buoyant, so punching up feels a bit strange. You have to learn to let it float up, then engage. However the added size and buoyancy add a crazy amount of leverage. You can almost get spoiled by relying on paddle too much. The extra leverage also comes into play on braces, the paddle almost keeps you on top of the water when you brace. After I got a new Odachi as my primary paddle, I bought a used one for half price as my spare paddle. Even though it is listed as a racing paddle, I think it is great for general purpose use. It also helps older paddlers like my by creating less soreness in the hands and elbows.