Hey guys,

About to buy a new paddle, want to go with Kialoa as I've heard good things.

Paddle will be used only for surfing on sub 9ft boards. I'm 6'2" and 82ish kg's...

Happy to spend the $$ for top of the range.

What are others using? What would you recommend?

I'm in Melbourne do any stores stock these or are they on-line purchase only?

Cheers

I haven't tried a lot of paddles but have used a Methane for surfing for the past 5 years. Had one for 3 years and bought another as I thought the first would break at some stage but is still going strong so now I have two. I purchased mine overseas so don't have any info on the local market. Good luck though!

Another vote for the Methane! Found it a really good paddle, you do need to be comfortable with the flat blade though.

Methane definitely.

I have also had mine for about five years and it is still going strong. The oval shaft is fantastic.

For flat water the kialoa Hulu Small is also excellent.

Same here, methane 5+yrs. Oval shaft is very comfortable. Put a lot of stress on in the surf, no problems.

Thanks guys appreciate the advice.

Methane looks like the go.

Does anybody know anywhere is Aus that stock Kialoa?

Cheers

I too loved the methane but have broken 2 in the same spot at the top of the blade. Mates broke in the same spot as well.

Spend the extra and get a quickblade. They seem to be a stronger paddle all-round.

Every brand got some broken paddles, including quickblade (and that is no flame post because I really like there paddles as well).I think the Methane is a really good choice.
I used the last months in the waves mostly my Ke Nalu Maliko, but paddled yesterday with my Kialua Shaka Puu and although the shaft is a bit stiffer as I prever its still a great paddle. I bought it in 2008, made literally hunderds of sessions and its still going strong.

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MC1 said..
Thanks guys appreciate the advice.

Methane looks like the go.

Does anybody know anywhere is Aus that stock Kialoa?

Cheers

SHQ here in Melbourne have stock of Kialoa paddles.. and The Zu can get them..

The Methane is a classic.. also is the Pipes..

The Hulu and Hulu small are my faverite Kialoa paddles these days..

Also consider the Insanity.. It's an awesome paddle..

You are welcome to try mine..

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DavidJohn said..

MC1 said..
Thanks guys appreciate the advice.

Methane looks like the go.

Does anybody know anywhere is Aus that stock Kialoa?

Cheers

SHQ here in Melbourne have stock of Kialoa paddles.. and The Zu can get them..

The Methane is a classic.. also is the Pipes..

The Hulu and Hulu small are my faverite Kialoa paddles these days..

Also consider the Insanity.. It's an awesome paddle..

You are welcome to try mine..

Thanks David

Appreciate the info and kind offer.

The guys at SHQ have actually placed an order for a Methane II for me!

Cheers

That's great.. I'd love to see it when you get it.. They have changed it for 2015 with slightly more angle on the blade.. I think it's because we are using slightly shorter paddles these days.. I'm sure it will be awesome..

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DavidJohn said...
That's great.. I'd love to see it when you get it.. They have changed it for 2015 with slightly more angle on the blade.. I think it's because we are using slightly shorter paddles these days.. I'm sure it will be awesome..

DJ, have you tried the new GL II surf paddle? It is smaller than the original (90 sq ins vs. 100), and I know you prefer smaller blades. And for that matter there's a version for women with a smaller diameter shaft and a 79 sq inch blade. Looks like it might be a step up for those who like the Kialoa Pipes paddle. I'm a big fan of the blade shape of the GL paddles. It's just that the original GL Surf was a brute of a paddle and so the new smaller version might be just right. It's very satisfying when you are in critical conditions offshore that your paddle is perhaps the strongest out there. The stiffness is also useful when bracing, and it means that when using a rapid-fire stroke to get into downwind bumps, the transference of power to the water is nice and direct.

I'm thinking that the women's paddle might be good for when I do upwind/downwind sessions, when two-thirds of the time is spent slogging upwind into short period peaky chop and 15-20 knots. I tried a Hulu S but there was too much flex in the blade for my liking - if I'm using a smaller blade I'd rather have a stiff paddle (and the bigger the blade the more I like flex).

Anyway, if you've tried either of these newer smaller GL paddles, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on them.

Hey A10 I've seen them on the Kialoa site and I'd love to try/buy that new women's smaller version of the Gerry Lopez paddle..

Unfortunately Kialoa here in Oz is hard to get/buy because most shops don't stock/sell them.. Shame..

I'm very happy with my Hulu small for both surfing and downwinders.. I'm surprised that you can feel flex in the blade..

You'd hate the Kialoa Insanity.. and I actually like that one also..

They have a new bent shaft Hulu coming that I might just put an order in for because I've heard that Gerry Lopez has said that its the best paddle that he's ever used.. (for flat water and DWing).. I didn't like the Werner version but I find the concept interesting..

My local dealer is getting me one of the new small blade GL Surf 2 paddles. There aren't many of them, or the 79 Sq inch one, around I don't think because they are new for 2015. But he'd probably source you one and the shipping to Australia can't be that much... They come in some fancy new colour designs for the blade too. Dunno if this catalogue is only for UK distributors, but it seems to show the new gear much better than the Kialoa website, IMO, although I think maybe there might be a couple of typos with the weights here and there:

issuu.com:443/seasprite/docs/sup_line_guide-uk-final-4

The shape of the blade and the stiffness of the shaft make the GL designs great for bracing and skimming along the water when surfing and DWing IMO. The Kialoas are good value these days as well, compared to eg. the most premium Quickblade paddles.

I'm sure the smaller blade and slightly flexier, lighter and slimmer shaft of the GL Wahine will appeal to a lot of male paddlers, not just women, just as the Pipes paddle had a loyal male following too. And you can get them in pretty long lengths too for the tallsters like you out there. I'll let you know how I get on with my new GL2.

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DavidJohn said...
That's great.. I'd love to see it when you get it.. They have changed it for 2015 with slightly more angle on the blade.. I think it's because we are using slightly shorter paddles these days.. I'm sure it will be awesome..

Hey DJ
Picked up the Methane II tonight, looks really nice! Unfortunately not going to get it cut down to use in the morning.
SHQ got a few more in with my order and also a couple of Pipes II.

Cheers

Thanks for the heads up.. I'll have to pop in and check them out..

You are welcome to borrow my Kialoa Insanity adjustable to make sure you get the length right..

Had a look today..

Love the new look Kialoa logo and the new blade/shaft construction..

I can see myself buying one of those new Pipes 2 paddles soon..

In what way are they different, DJ?

I saw a Pipes that looked quite different that was being used here by one of the female sponsored riders locally and it looked and felt quite different to my old Methane (but that is about 5 years old). It was lighter and there was more progressive flex in the shaft, and this one had a palm grip on it, and the "ocean" colour scheme which was very nice. The weave looked quite different too, and in general it looked more sophisticated than my old paddles. But I don't know if that's what you mean by the Pipes II -??

Still waiting for my GL Surf II. I'm wondering what the difference will be between the Wahine GL Surf (79 sq ins) and the Pipes II, except probably quite a sizeable price difference. After looking at this Pipes model, I'm wondering if I should have ordered one of those instead of the GL surf II because I want it partly for surfing but also for upwind/DW training.

All paddles break. We have sold hundreds of Kialoa's over the years with very little failure rate, so I asked Dave Chun about the construction. I am sure he wont mind me posting it here for those of us who still love our Kialoa paddles!

The 2015 Methane 2 and Pipes 2 are complete redesigns. I believe the original blades and shaft, were designed in 2008.

The 2015 shaft, is Pre-Impregnated (pre-preg) carbon epoxy shaft build on a solid steel mandrel. Shafts built in this manner are very consistent and yield great strength to weight ratios. Which is super important when working with extremely thin walled tubes (shafts).

The old shaft was built using Resin Transfer Molding (RTM), with a flexible silicone mandrel. We chose this method of construction to accommodate the complex oval taper shaft design. In shaft testing, the RTM shafts, yield a break strength beyond the most super human capabilities. But, the method is not as consistent as pre-preg. In the field, failure rate is less than 1%. But, on a forum, you generally only hear about the bad things, which makes things seem much worse than they are.

While a failure rate of less than 1% is acceptable for a product, we noticed that the failure rate for all our other products, outrigger, dragon boat, and SUP, were far less.
This is what prompted us to switch; to re-tool the paddles and go with a pre-preg shaft.

The only reason we continued the RTM tapered oval for such a long run, was customer feedback. Our customers liked the shape. At this time we are not able to build this shaft in a cost effective manner with the pre-preg method.


The blade on the 2015 Methane and Pipes, are also different. The blade attaches to the shaft internally. The old model has the blade fitting over the shaft.

The blade angle is also different. 13 degrees for the Methane and 12 degrees for the Pipes. These paddles are classified as “All-Around” paddles.


As most of the broken Methanes/Pipes have happened while surfing, we introduced the GL line of surfing paddles. (Gerry actually helped me shape the original tooling model. I had to hand hold the blade as he used his Skil 100 surfboard planner, so I didn’t have a free hand to take a photo.)

While blade failure with the Methane and Pipes are extremely rare, we designed the GL blades to be stronger. For the pure SUP surfer, the GL in is in theory, a more durable paddle. However, bad things happen in the impact zone, and we will never be able to fully bomb proof a paddle. GL paddles have a pre-preg shaft, with a lay-up geared for surf.


Let me know if you need more information.
Aloha,
Dave

Thanks very much AA. I've owned 9 Kialoa paddles since 2008, and still own three from back then. None of them have broken, and I SUP about 4 times a week in all kinds of conditions and all kinds of activities. So as far as I'm concerned, Kialoa paddles are very durable. So the GL ones must be very strong indeed. I'm glad there is a brand that is producing a paddle specifically tailored to the needs of surfing, and with an emphasis on strength. In critical situations I'm never worrying about a couple of grams weight, it's more "holy crap it would not be good to break my paddle now".

Recently, I was cutting down a GL Surf paddle and a top-of-the-range Quickblade. The QB is noticeably lighter. But when I looked at the cross-section of the shaft it was pretty obvious why - the shaft walls seemed about half the thickness in the QB compared to the GL. Now, I have no idea what the relative strengths of each are, but rightly or wrongly it made me favour the Kialoa for situations where a paddle's strength might be stretched to it's limits or the consequences of a break could be serious. It's all about choices I guess. So, as I say, it's nice that there is someone out there who is giving us the choice to prioritise strength over weight (which is not to say Kialoas are particularly heavy, because they aren't, they just aren't fetishising it over all other features).

I owned Kialoa paddles and I was really impressed by their construction, especially how the carbon fibers were positioned to give just enough flex for not hurting your shoulders, but still be very strong . I loved the T handle, too.

I switched because of the blade shape: the blades had too many flat surfaces, once you try a paddle with more hydrodynamic shapes, it is hard to get back to Kialoas in terms of fluidity of and glide of the blade in the wave while surfing. No issues for cruising/racing however.

Did they add some curvature to the blade faces for the version 2?

I agree that you do not want a carbon paddle to break in your hands, carbon shards are hell to extract because unlike urchin spikes they are too brittle and break under the skin.