For years now I have been looking for the ideal travel paddle, one I can throw on jeeps, horse carts and the odd local bus all across the Himalaya. It’s always been a pain to have 200cm of carbon and glass as well as my kayak. I’ve chopped paddles stuffed then in my boat, glued them in tea houses, tapped them on sand beaches and more.
Over the last 6 years I’ve gone from a simple tape join through the traditional push button which have always cracked under heavy use and by heavy I mean as my main paddle for a year on class five – nice repair with tash tape.
All my issues are now over with the new Robson varilock. I simply split the paddle stick it in my boat and sling the boat on a plane or cart or bus or jeep then join and hey hey win win a good choice made. I also love how the paddle an be adjusted in length and feather. So it’s great as a loan paddle for guests on trips.
Words and pictures by Daz Clarkson-King.
Bio:
Old man river Darren Clarkson-King (DAZ) will be supplying a series of ‘Dirty First Aid’ articles for river runners.
Darren offers in-house training in the Himalaya and is a consultant for Nepal Association of Rafting Agents (NARA) making a blue print for an Industry standard.
He also paddles a bit.
www.purelandexpeditions.com
info@purelandexpeditions.com
Those lever-lock systems are great . Alloy body and stainless steel screws. We use them on our Mako paddles and never had a failure. Have heard that if original design were used in salt water a lot and not rinsed with fresh occasionally the lever can corrode where it is screwed on to the hexagonal lug. The new design where the lever and cam are all one piece should make them bullet proof.
‘UNSPONSORED’ indeed…
What a biased article. Why don’t you just change the site name to sponsored and just be straight with us.
Thanks for your feedback. It’s always great when folk visit the site and comment. I love the interaction. Daz (who wrote the piece) paddles way more than most of us and usually in some of the worlds toughest regions. He has a free choice of gear and has gone for the Robson system as it is tough enough to withstand some serious long term abuse. I have never use this locking system on a Robson paddler.
However the locking system is the same as used by Vertical Element. I have used this one extensively (not to the same degree as Daz and his Robson version) but concur that the system is the best I have found to date.