Any one heard any more about the V Drive paddles coming out in December(?) by QB which is the creative work of Dave Kalama and Jim Terrell? Going off the video provided it seems quite innovative and holds great promise:



What do you guys think?

cheers ozzie

Always good to see new design work on paddles...it looks promising.

You cup your hand in a good swim stroke, for max effect... so Dave may be on to something.... he usually is.

I wonder how it pulls through the water... might create a bit of cavitation and hunt around a bit?

Send me one and I'll review it

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supthecreek said..
Always good to see new design work on paddles...it looks promising.

You cup your hand in a good swim stroke, for max effect... so Dave may be on to something.... he usually is.

I wonder how it pulls through the water... might create a bit of cavitation and hunt around a bit?

Send me one and I'll review it

Could you elaborate more on your comment in relation to cupping your hand.

It seems strange that few have had the opportunity to try it out and provide analysis given the power of word of mouth advertising.

Ozzie

looks like there are a few stages of completion in the images. maybe the convex/concave shape slows the escape flow down so your paddle stays more where you put it in - ie offers more resistance. but the V is there to direct the water to keep it controllable (?).
i dont know just guessing really.

Don't think you can relate it to a cupped hand in swimming where you are using an "s" stroke through the water (moving a lot of water a short distance) whereas I think the paddle action is more a tractor stroke (ie straight through). IMO

If you think about it, it represents a real step in the evolution of paddles so it comes as a surprise to me at least that given the two protagonists involved, we
seem to be hearing very little about this project.

Its clear that a lot of work has been done in terms of design and real life application so I for one am really looking forward to what comes out. There is obviously
a design principle involved that has translated into a paddle that is generationally transformative.

Has anyone had the chance to test drive?

Cheers ozzie

ghostman
I was a distance swimmer in school, and seeing Dave's "V cup" in the paddle blade, reminded me of my hand shape as it entered the water. It was slightly cupped to trap the water and provide thrust, as your hand drew back, it slowly flatted towards release, at the back end of the stroke.
I found a picture that shows the form of British Olymipic distance swimmer, Becky Adlington.

In the first series shot, you can see her hand is cupped.

It is interesting that the analysis of her stroke bears similarities to a good Paddle stroke

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supthecreek said..

ghostman
I was a distance swimmer in school, and seeing Dave's "V cup" in the paddle blade, reminded me of my hand shape as it entered the water. It was slightly cupped to trap the water and provide thrust, as your hand drew back, it slowly flatted towards release, at the back end of the stroke.
I found a picture that shows the form of British Olymipic distance swimmer, Becky Adlington.

In the first series shot, you can see her hand is cupped.

It is interesting that the analysis of her stroke bears similarities to a good Paddle stroke

Mate good one. Thank you for that. Very nice description and obviously the photos help dont they.

Ozzie

It's been done before....a few years ago.
Didn't seem to catch on....pardon the pun.
Maybe with some good marketing and promotion they'll sell??

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Deano72 said..

It's been done before....a few years ago.
Didn't seem to catch on....pardon the pun.
Maybe with some good marketing and promotion they'll sell??

Deano its somewhat difficult to get an overall picture of just how much the above photo reflects this new attempt given we only have one side to look at and thats not including the type of material that was previously used. The modern day paddle seems to be getting lighter and lighter so it will be interesting to see how this latest iteration will fair.

My guess is, with Dave Kalama and John Terrell involved they have surely done their homework. It does seem intuitively promising given the inherent design lends itself to more water being caught during the drive phase.

Cheers Ozzie

It sounds a lot like the Powerex paddle from 2008 of my all time shaping hero Sean Ordonez.

I hear what a lot of you guys are saying but I just wonder how much of the "sounds like the so and so paddle from before" actually translates into what is being done right this very minute.

There are times when an idea cant materialise into reality until the technology catches up. Maybe that time is right now?

Cheers Ozzie

Yes Ghost4man

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ghost4man said..

I hear what a lot of you guys are saying but I just wonder how much of the "sounds like the so and so paddle from before" actually translates into what is being done right this very minute.

There are times when an idea cant materialise into reality until the technology catches up. Maybe that time is right now?

Cheers Ozzie

Can be the technology allows to make paddle closer of mother nature, for exemple the cupping of the fingers palm's seals... and the nextstep would be an interactive paddle like seals's fingers does.
,ok! back in my dream see you later

@G4M
Could be although the technology hasnt make big leaps, it must be a bit of a mind change in how we look at paddles.
Checking them closely another difference is that the Sean paddle uses to cups (also based on a swimming hand!) and the QB one.
I think the main difference in changes of succes is often who (re)sells the idea.

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ghost4man said..

I hear what a lot of you guys are saying but I just wonder how much of the "sounds like the so and so paddle from before" actually translates into what is being done right this very minute.

There are times when an idea cant materialise into reality until the technology catches up. Maybe that time is right now?

Cheers Ozzie

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Jeroensurf said..

@G4M
Could be although the technology hasnt make big leaps, it must be a bit of a mind change in how we look at paddles.
Checking them closely another difference is that the Sean paddle uses to cups (also based on a swimming hand!) and the QB one.
I think the main difference in changes of succes is often who (re)sells the idea.

I agree with you and Deano that marketing rules the economic world but I add marketing does'nt swim as faster than a seal or ever a distance swimmer in the water.
Plus, I think that a lot of technologic innovation does'nt rise up because customers are not abble to read what the innovation brings to them.
Customers believe in new technologies only when the marketing duplicate it, sadly

Back on this Vdrivepaddle and to reply@sup46, for sure a channeled paddle will drive the water efficiently after retains it in the cup , this is a better paddle. IMO

Interesting details…

More water? Or more grip.

Well I sent an email to QB asking about release information etc and so far nothing back from them.

Will keep you posted on this.

There is nothing new under the sun....Right?

Just ordered mine....review will follow when it arrives and I've had a play.


$$$ but hopefully will be worth it.

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djgaffa said..
Just ordered mine....review will follow when it arrives and I've had a play.

$$$ but hopefully will be worth it.

I rang up Surffx and they quoted me high $600 which to my mind is prohibitively expensive in my opinion.

At this point in time I have not seen anything in terms of reviews which would suggest that these paddles are suited more for surfing or the longer stuff.

We will see. Look forward to your review. I would be interested if you get the opportunity to include in your review an assessment on how the paddle performs in
strict surfing and longer paddling.

Cheers Ozzie

"There is no such thing as a new idea. It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope. We give them a turn and they make new and curious combinations. We keep on turning and making new combinations indefinitely; but they are the same old pieces of colored glass that have been in use through all the ages."
- Mark Twain


Personally, I think I have an 'idea' for a paddle blade that is worth a look...not sure if I should check in at the patent office first though.

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Deano72 said..

It's been done before....a few years ago.

Yup, Gong had the same kind of blade as the picture some years ago. It wad good for offering stability in chop. But it wasn't clear it was worth the loss of efficiency.



This said, the quickblade paddle seems quite different.

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Deano72 said..

It's been done before....a few years ago.
Didn't seem to catch on....pardon the pun.
Maybe with some good marketing and promotion they'll sell??

it's close, nothing like it. we've had a v drive test paddle for out training group.a very very good paddle. im getting one and i would say quite a few of the other crew will too

deano, i don't think with your ties to another brand you should be commenting about another brands paddle- its a bit uncool

My friend Mike has been making V drive paddles for years..

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DavidJohn said..
My friend Mike has been making V drive paddles for years..

You are cheeky arent you Mr David. What we can gather from your comment and others then is that there aint nothing new under the sun and sadly the previous
iterations of the V drive paddle were missing some high profile names :)

I actually think it's great what Jim is doing-trying.. I wasn't being negative.. I just wanted to show what my friend Mike was doing a few years ago.. It is a little similar.. Jim's dimple idea was interesting.. This idea would not have worked so well a few years ago but the paddle stroke has changed now from a pull out to the side where flat blades allowed you to stealth paddle without a splash and I think this V drive paddle would pull water out with it.. But now with the in-out and up-down type stroke it just might work.. I'd be keen to try one.. I wonder if this design will allow for super thin blade centre that might even have flex in it.. Also.. Pretty sure the Gong paddle and Mike's had the V ridge on the back of the blade and I think Jim's idea has it on the face of the blade.. It's very different.. It will be interesting to see if JM uses it.

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DavidJohn said..
I actually think it's great what Jim is doing-trying.. I wasn't being negative.. I just wanted to show what my friend Mike was doing a few years ago.. It is a little similar.. Jim's dimple idea was interesting.. This idea would not have worked so well a few years ago but the paddle stroke has changed now from a pull out to the side where flat blades allowed you to stealth paddle without a splash and I think this V drive paddle would pull water out with it.. But now with the in-out and up-down type stroke it just might work.. I'd be keen to try one.. I wonder if this design will allow for super thin blade centre that might even have flex in it.. Also.. Pretty sure the Gong paddle and Mike's had the V ridge on the back of the blade and I think Jim's idea has it on the face of the blade.. It's very different.. It will be interesting to see if JM uses it.

Mr David,

At the risk of exposing my ignorance to the terminology but could you elaborate more on the "stealth paddle" please.

Cheers Ozzie

It just that perfectly silent and splash less paddling that you can do on glassy water.

My paddle arrived last week and I finally had a chance to take it for a run this morning, so this review is only really my first impressions.

I have been SUPing for about 2 years. I paddle most weeks 3-4 times a week on either a flat rowing lake, or out off the beach. I paddle a 14' fanatic falcon and have no brand loyalties or ties. I'm not a sponsored rider and pay (through the nose) for my gear. I have used Naish paddles, NP, a Coreban stealth and my last paddle was a Starboard HA 550.

Like I said my paddle arrived last week and I got out for about an hour this morning and took it for a whirl. My initial impression of the paddle straight out of the box was it looks well made (although the logo was kinda rubbed off from some stickers etc that came with it) It felt far more solid than my SB 550 which always felt brittle (and began delaminating which confirms the feeling). It came with the tapered oval shaft which I found to be comfortable, and the carbon handle fits my hands well.

Now the important bit....

I got the larger (101 sq/in) sized paddle on the advice of a bloke from QB. I found the first few stokes to be completely different from anything else I've used. There is a bit of a hook in the end of the blade which locks it in the water during the catch and it feels solid in the water throughout the stroke. One thing I really like about the high asect paddles is the gradual increase in power that is transferred as more of the blade engages with the water. This paddle locks in from the start, but there is a little flex in the shaft near the handle which takes the strain off of my shoulders.

I found I was not able to keep up the same cadence I could with the SB550, but I was able to increase my speed at a lower cadence. (this could all be in my head) The swing weight of the paddle is very close to the SB550, but it didn't seem to catch the air during the recovery phase of the stroke like the 550. I blade my paddle, but with the 550, an exaggerated action was required to stop it grabbing the air.

The double dihedral seems to grab more water as the marketing stuff says it does. (once again it could be all in my head) I feel like I'm getting more power out of the paddle with every stroke for a similar amount of effort.

So my initial impressions of this paddle is that it is a winner. I'm very happy with the purchase, but the real test will come with a few races in the coming months and our local time trials over winter.

Thanks for your review.

Does it pull more water out when it releases from the water?