I have had the paddle for about a month and a half now and so far have been very impressed. I ordered it through Pyranha with 12 degrees feather and a length of 191cm.

When I first unwrapped the paddle the first thing I noticed was how light it was, its lighter than any paddle I had previously tried, so was very impressed by that. It also looks quite different due to its unusual carbon weave look and dimpled grips.

When I tried it on the water I really liked it as it felt totally natural in your hands. The other thing that amazed me was just how powerful the paddle is both forwards and backwards which made it great for play and no doubt river running too. When the blades were moving threw the water I did not notice any flutter so that was good. The power and natural feel of the paddle made it very easy to initiate moves with and also swap blades during cartwheel type moves as it moves so naturally and easily you dont really have to think about doing it.

I really like having the low feather too as it makes the paddle really easy to use for play as you dont have to rotate your wrist much at all to swap blades and it also takes a lot of the strain/ work off your left wrist.

My thoughts on the shaft were that it was fantastic. It was very light and so far very strong and durable. It is very stiff though which is what I like but others may not be so keen if they have shoulder issues. As for the grips they feel great as they position your hands in a way that takes most of the strain off them and also gives you lots of control whilst your paddling.

M y thoughts on the blades were that they are unbelievably powerful which I loved. They also dont flutter about in the water and are very efficient.

As for durability I have had no problems yet and theyve taken some very hard hits both whilst playing and also running the river Hindburn which is grade 4 with a easy grade 5 fall on it. They have hardly a scratch on the at all yet which is good and apparently if you do dent the edge of the blades you can heat that small area up and squash it back to shape which sounds like a good idea.

Overall I love this paddle and am very happy. I cannot find anything I dont like about it and thus have nothing bad to day about it. Its almost perfect in other words. The only down side of this paddle is the price as they are very expensive.

I would like to thank Pyranha (especially Chris in the shop) for sorting me out with a paddle as they tried very hard to get a paddle for me that suited me best and they definitely succeeded.

Review of the Waterstick Zen pro-bend (with the 2003 smaller grips) by James Bebbington.