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New: maroon kevlar blades! |
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Welcome to Gillespie Paddles!!
Here's the new tear balsa blade! They are made in singles and double angles, up to 11". They have a phenolic tip, around the corners and the bottom. The sides are wrapped in double veneer red maple, the core is balsa/western red cedar; 2 ounce epoxy/glass sandwich, with partial glass wrap on shaft. Available 9-10.5" wide - 18-19 ounces, 10 degree and double angle....email me for details.  Your paddle is your connection to the water. You may sit in the canoe, or stand on the board, but your butt and feet aren't really translating in a very sensitive fashion what is happening in the water. The paddle is. It is connected to your hands and arms. You feel what is going on in the water thru the paddle. A good wood paddle does this best! When things are going well in the canoe, you can feel it in the paddle. Its a very sweet feeling! But if the paddle doesn't feel, you will never know... For many years I have made paddles that work to fullfill the above statement. They are all hand-shaped with small machinery. I pretty much do most of it alone. As much as I love wood and working with it, there are certainly some paddling situations where having carbon fibre or kevlar parts (blades, shafts) makes a lot of sense. So I mate them and this produces some fantastic paddles...hybrids. I also sell all carbon paddles. If you have questions, please ask.....Brad   Balsa double angle, low profile blade -- lightweight wood blades, that feel great and look great. Check out these great team/club discounts!  Really luscious 'D' shaped grips....$7.50 ea. just ask! Ultralites -- super feeling, lightweight, and beautiful... SUP paddlesStandup paddle site -- wwwgillespiestanduppadles.com Hybrids  You can feel free to contact me with any questions. I'm pretty much it here. I make all the paddles, take care of the email, and answer the phone. I am the person you deal with, and I am the one who makes your paddle. (I have a couple of part-timers, who do a bit of gluing and finish sanding, and who do their best to keep the dust from building up too much.) Just remember this one important thing when you are deciding on what paddle you want: its not a lollipop. (what's that mean? It means that how its made, what its made of, and how it paddles are more important than the how many colors the blade comes in.) I have a variety of paddles available for Outrigger paddling, recreational and Standup paddling. You can click on the links below and find several designs to choose from. Please feel free to ask questions. I am mainly a custom paddle builder. Outrigger paddles can be found at the Medium, Lightweight/hybrid, steering, and outrigger club/team links in the menu at left. Recreational/touring Paddles These are essentially the same paddles, only rec. paddles have palm grips and narrower blades -- 8.5" mostly. You have options to for wider or narrower paddles, and you can also chose a T grip. My T grips are all hand fashioned and very comfortable. The transition is more sudden from shaft to grip with T grip -- and mine are shaped more like a D. SUP Paddles All wood, hybrids, and carbon fibre. I make some really nice all wood paddles -- the shafts are larger than regular canoe paddles, but are not huge, nor are they squarish. They are comfortably ovalled. If you are really hot after the speed, a lightweight SUP paddle is important. If you are just a fairly serious paddler, who wants to have a paddle with feel, a shaft that is oriented, and a paddle that is not the same as everyone else's (like all the carbon paddles -- virtually indistinguishable, most of them made in CHina, shafts that are round and small (too small, and dense -- not a good feel for carbon), then try a handmade, laminated, wooden paddle. I make hybrid SUPs, with wood blades and a carbon shaft/ or, a carbon,kevlar weave -- these are ovalled also, and the overall weight of the paddle is no more than an all carbon -- my paddles just have life, also! -- and they aren't identical to the 20 or so other paddlers around you.  Hybrids I offer a couple of different options are with hybrid paddles (generally regarded as a combination of wood and carbon fibre). You can find wood shafts combined with Carbon fibre blades, or Carbon fibre blades combined with very lightweight wood blades. I offer two different kinds of cf blades -- both quite aggressive, one slightly heavier than the other, and with a somewhat shorter blade (17.5" vs. 18"), and also less expensive. (Gillespie CF) -- this is a very well priced paddle with super blade characteristics. If you wonder about the wood blades with cf shafts, I've had excellent feedback on these. The flex is mainly in the blade, and the weight of these is very similar to the CF blades/wood shafts, just distributed differently (more weight in blade, less in shaft).  Cobra revised!!Shipping info: Generally, shipping prices are in the $15-35 range, Shipping one paddle in the continental US is around $15-20; shipping 2 is around $20. Shipping by air (priority mail) is more -- and fluxuates by how large the paddle is; the dimensions dictate pricing. If a paddle is 51" x 9" or less, it can be shipped for around $20 to Guam, Ca., Hawaii...etc. Two paddles in the same range would be a few bucks more. If the paddle is 53 x 10", it jumps into another dimensional area, and the charge is more like $35 (for 1 or 2 paddles). So when you check out, the shipping charge you see (say $25) might not, probably isn't what you will actually be charged. I run the cc, and when I see where it is going, what size it is, I charge accordingly. You won't get ripped off, so don't worry about that. And the shipping charges accumulate if you order more than one paddle -- so 2 paddles might add up to $50 or whatev...don't worry about that either, 'cause I don't charge that way. It's just the way the system works. 2 paddles usually don't cost much more than l. If curious, just email me. brad@gillespiepaddles.com Other Thoughts: Most people feel some affection for wood and love to incorporate it into their lives to some degree. It represent something very natural and most of the time it is quite delicious to look at, even if we don't quite understand what is so neat about it, or what qualities it has. I know that when I first started racing canoes, I fell in love with the whole idea of angled wood paddles -- and I started racing just when the angled paddle was taking off. The sexy angle made the whole wood thing so much more alluring. Wood in a paddle adds life and character to it, as well as the enticing visual aspects. Although my background in canoeing is racing, I've always hesitated to embrace the very questionable value of having a stiff paddle that doesn't lose energy during the stroke. I may not race now, but I use a wood paddle (balsa/cedar layup) with a lot of very pleasant flex -- and feedback! -- yes, that flex is great on my joints, it also allows me to interpret the water and my relationship to it. In short, it has feel! If having the lightest, stiffest paddle isn't your major goal, wood should be your first choice. I also think that, yes, like shock absorbers, a wood paddle does absorb energy; but the blade does flex back, as the blade is relaxed, so for the most part, the energy is returned. There's also the issue of how much do you want your elbows to absorb impact? This may not be an issue so much with young supermen. But with aging supermen(women!!), it sure can be! |
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 Really nicely contoured T grips...way beyond the ordinary grip! These are fuller grips and I do charge extra for them. Just ask! 
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