. . . and how quick it DIED

I took the new paddle to the pool tonight. At one point I put a lot of pressure into a stroke and I felt a "pop". I stopped and noticed a small fracture in one of the blades. No biggie. I went home and fixed that. While the fracture repair was setting up, I decided to do a another stress test. This time, putting a considerable amount of pressure on the other blade. Anyways, the loom cracked about 3" in from the shoulder. The noise as it snapped sounded like a gunshot. It was 12:30 AM but luckily I woke nobody in the house!!

I keep going over in my mind - did I put undue pressure on the paddle or was it not fit for "ocean going service" and that I'm lucky it broke when it did? I guess I'll never know.

I think I may have buggered up the grain orientation. Comments/suggestions?

Anyway, I slapped some epoxy in the cracks and put a quick wrap of glass around the broken loom - just to see what happens but I doubt that this paddle, as beautiful as it once was, will never be used!!

I considered making a new paddle but then thought "Hey, I have great paddle already" It's only 88" but it's 3.5" wide, has a 22" loom and weighs an incredible 27oz. It's stiff and strong and I've already used it quite a bit over the past few months. Plus, I've put plastic tip protectors on it which negates the need to go with the maple - which is quite heavy!!

I think it's time that I appreciate the great paddle that I already have and to use it accordingly!


Here's a shot of ol' faithful. Looks an awful lot like the new one, what??