One of the best paddles ever made!

This is without a doubt one of the best most powerful and intuitive paddle designs on the market. It's pricey compared to other mainstream paddles but the level of value is there. This paddle does not wear down like plastic bladed paddles or the glass Werner's. The Dynel edge is bombproof, no chipping, no signs of structural wear what so ever after 3 solid seasons, much of that on the Gull River. The bent shaft is a no brainer, it just feels right the first time you paddle with it, the learning curve is short, like five minutes and you already don't want to use a straight shaft again. I've tried several other bent shafts, the only other one that was so intuitively easy was the H2O. If they could build in the power that the Double Diamond has I'd have to change my opinion but there just isn't a comparison, the foam core and carbon shaft send all your energy into the water. No flex, no wasted strokes, no loss of power. Things that took multiple strokes and a lot of anerobic work I now manage to do with less strokes and less grunt, leaving me less exhausted over all. That means something when you've got a tough move over a distance and still lots of rapid left before you can rest. People will try to sell you on the idea that this paddle will tear up your joints because it's so stiff. I would argue that at the end of the day you have taken significantly less strokes using this powerfull paddle. So although you may have experienced more stress physically during each stroke you have made so many less that it really doesn't matter. It takes the same amount of energy to move your boat over a certain distance period, so why not use that energy as efficiently as possible. In the end this is the best value in a paddle I have ever seen and would buy another without hesitation. It works out to pennies an outing if you paddle as often as I do.