Best value wings?

Kayakswimkayak

I am new to marathon racing and was wondering could anyone suggest a good value set of wings that's not crazy expensive but will do the job for me. Or is there no such thing as cheap wings? I know iCanoe do a set for €130 but don't know how good they are. If anyone knows please tell me and if you know of any other relatively inexpensive ones message away please

Zuppy

It depends on the wings you are talking about. Wings are nearly more complicated than buying a boat. If you are new then depending on what you need them for Sprint/Marathon or your own height and strength, I would suggest getting a set of splits. Split wings will allow you to play with the length of the shaft till you are sure what you want. Also a mid sized blade, unless you are a junior or very light. If you don't like them then a mid sized set of splits will be easier to shift on.

Try some sets from others before you buy.

Kayakswimkayak

"It depends on the wings you are talking about. Wings are nearly more complicated than buying a boat. If you are new then depending on what you need them for Sprint/Marathon or your own height and strength, I would suggest getting a set of splits"


Therein lies the problem. I don't know what wings I am talking about. And they are too complicated for me. I only need them for marathon and initially I will be using a wavehopper this year at least and need blades that will help me cover the distances a bit quicker as it is so heavy to paddle. I am 6'3" and around 100kg. Is there anywhere you would suggest for cheaper split wings or are they all expensive? It's very hard to get people to let you use their expensive paddles and I understand. If I had something worth a few hundred euro I would be reluctant to let a beginner borrow them!

Zuppy

What part of the country are you in? Maybe I can point you to a few people

Kayakswimkayak

North Kildare. Any help would be appreciated

xt40

I'm after a new lighter set of wings myself so was curious when i saw this thread.
i popped into i-canoe and had a look at them for myself.
the cheap paddles are galasport cobra and look very nice . they are black glass with silver sparkles in the gelcoat. As they werent made up , I was able to compare the glass version against the much dearer carbon version of the same blade. The diff in weight was negligible and you would need a scales to detect it. There was a noticable difference in weight between the glass shaft that they come with for 130 and a carbon one but the upgrade was 65 which seemed very steep.
Coincidendally, i met someone on sunday who was paddling with an all glass set and got to try them out. They felt very nice and evenly balanced so i would definitely recommend them.

Kayakswimkayak

Thanks for that info. Maybe they might do as a starter set for me alright. What type are you upgrading from?

xt40

streamlyte glide elite - they are nice but too heavy construction - glass shaft. blades - carbon front and back with loads of glass in the middle -1.2kg according to our kitchen scales. With the glass galasport paddles it felt like the weight was more evenly distributed.

Kayakswimkayak

Sound. Again thanks for the info. No one else providing any tips so I will pop into iCanoe and see what they are like myself