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I've been using this paddle for just over a year now. I'll say that the construction is meticulous; it's beautifully made. The wood shaft is smooth, stiff, and nicely shaped to fit the hand. It has a center lamination of carbon to enhance stiffness. The ferrule, also carbon is perfectly fit to the shaft and assembles with virtually no play; locking into position with a typical button lock. The blade is their "Kiska" shaped, labeled "Grand" as it's somewhat larger than the standard shape, yet smaller than their "Wave Walker" blade. Weight is acceptable considering the shaft is wood. While heavier than, say, a Werner carbon paddle, it's still quite acceptable. What I've come to not like it's that the ferrule was only able to be set to one feather angle: not adjustable. I had to choose one angle and live with it. I live with it, though I do think a more adjustable ferrule would be preferable. The blade is full carbon and quite light. It's appears to be a one piece body of carbon cloth without the foam core that's found in say, Werner carbon blades. As a result I find it less buoyant, less able to pop out of the water on recovery as a foam cored blade. The blade has a very slight dihedral on the power face, and a very distinct spine on the back face. Without the very smooth surfaces as on another makers blades, I find the blades somewhat noisy at the catch, and more difficult to control during "in water" maneuvers. I'm not necessarily saying hard to control; just not as effortless as some. It's an expensive paddle; and all good paddles are expensive: No complaint with that. This one is a bit more so. Still, a finely made paddle that'll hold up to hard use. If Nimbus offers another round of custom made paddles like this you couldn't really go wrong to get one.

I have to say that I love paddling my Xcite. It's somewhat slow, but not excessively so. Handling is exemplary! It actually seems to get quicker and better handling as the water gets bumpier. I've also thought though, that it was kind of "hefty" for a 50# boat.

My issue is weight. My boat is a hardcore layup, which at the time I was purchasing was given as 50#, just a couple pounds lighter than the classic layup which was given as 52#. The hardcore was never meant to be a particularly light layup, just "a couple of pounds lighter", but tougher.

I just had the need to ship my boat, which meant weighing it for the first time. You can imagine my surprise when the boat clocked in at 63#!!! The only added accessory added is a Silva compass: not 13#.
Tiderace response is: we didn't have enough boats off the line to establish actual weight. Imagine; quoting weight of a boat for sale, without actually ever having weighed one!

I'm very disappointed. I'm not sure what I expect Tiderace to do, as the boat is a year old, but I did want to put my experience out there. Beware and weigh the boat b4 purchase, and maybe avoid Tiderace. The obviously aren't in the customer service business.

Purchased this paddle Feb. 2013. I find it to be a moderately priced, moderate quality paddle. It's biggest virtue is that it's 3 piece.

The paddle is reasonably stiff and smooth. However, it's joints don't smoothly line up leaving ridges that the hand must pass over while manipulating the paddle. Compared to other carbon fiber paddles, I find it relatively heavy. I also find that the upper portion of the blade, next to the loom is fairly wide: wider than I personally like for the size of my hands, which are pretty normal. The loom diameter is comfortable, and the edges not too wide, though they could be thinner in my opinion.

All in all, a good backup paddle but not one likely to be my go to.

I paddle a hardcore layup Tiderace Xcite; I am an ACA L4 Coastal instructor with a Traditional Skills endorsement.