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Werner paddles had its humble beginning back in 1959 and has been in production and handcrafted in the State of Washington for over 40 years. The paddle I recently purchased is a straight shaft, standard grip, high angle, 210cm Ikelos carbon paddle. The Ikelos’ shaft, like all of Werner’s touring shafts, is handmade, and is available in one, two, or four piece configurations. Each of the multi-piece paddles has a button built into the shaft for disassembling the paddle for storage and transport. This new style button, which replaced the older button, is recessed into the shaft thus removing the protruding button some paddlers found annoying. Along with the recessed button, Werner has made a slight, but welcome change, to the ferrule assembly with a “Smart View Adjustable” ferrule. This assembly replaces the older blade alignment method of a piece of tape wrapped around the shaft. While the tape worked well, this redesign provides a more convenient method for setting the angle of the blade. The ferrule itself appears to be unchanged and still consists of a spline assembly. This spline allows for not only feathering the blades from zero degrees to 60 degrees for either left or right handed paddles, but also provides anti-rotational strength for the entire paddling shaft.

Moving from the shaft to the blades, the Ikelos has a large surface area, 691 cm2, which allows the paddler to catch a ton of water. In comparison, a standard high angle blade will have approximately 610 cm2 of surface area. The larger blade does offer some advantages including initial paddling strokes, stopping, and possibly in bracing and rolling because of the larger surface area. Of course one of the downsides to a larger blade is the increase in swing weight when compared to a standard blade. However, when you compare a standard non-carbon paddle, 1000 - 1100g, to the larger bladed Ikelos paddle at 670g, we see a massive reduction in swing weight despite Ikelos’ larger paddle blades.

Another feature, beyond their light weight design found in Werner Ultimate performance line of paddles, is they are exceptionally buoyant. So while the reduction in swing weight aides the paddler with the initiation of the stroke, the buoyancy of the paddle helps lift the paddle out of the water at the completion of the stroke. So what else can Werner add to this paddle? Simply, a small but highly functional dihedral on the power face of the blade and a smooth curved surface to the back of the blade. The dihedral allows for a smooth and stable forward paddling stroke by balancing the water pressure across the face of the blade, while the smooth curved back helps mitigate, if not eliminate, small eddies that can form on backside of any paddle, robbing the paddler of their efficiency and power. Finally to complete the blade, Werner has added drip rings and a Dynel edge to the paddle. This is a roping material designed to be impact and abrasion resistant.

The Ikelos paddle is offered in a variety of single and multi-piece shaft configurations, including both straight and bent shaft. To be honest the Ikelos model is not the least expensive choice on the market. It retails, depending on shaft configuration, from $400 to $490. For my money, it was worth every penny spent. If you haven’t paddled an Ikelos paddle, or even a Werner carbon paddle, do yourself a favor and visit your local Werner dealer and take one out for a demo.

A complete list of specifications can be found on Werner Paddles website at www.wernerpaddles.com/paddles/touring/ikelos