Dragonboat Blog | The Dragonboating Resource

dragonboat talk for dragonboaters.

Today I am going to talk about the Typhoon8 wooden paddle. It’s a good solid paddle to start off for a beginner and has a nice wood grain finish. Furthermore it is priced fairly at $47.50 USD directly from Typhoon8.

This was the first paddle I used when I started Dragonboating. One thing that I liked about this paddle is, it helps a beginner by providing them with some ‘flex’ in the water (’Flex’ is another way of saying not so stiff). This can be an advantage when starting out because it doesn’t put as much strain on the shoulders as a carbon fibre paddle would. This means that a paddler can recover much quicker and gets to paddle more often. The paddle also has reinforced plastic at the bottom of the blade so it stops potential wood splitting (very common in timber paddles when water gets in). If you accidentally drop the paddle on a hard surface, the reinforced plastic will also protect the edge of the blade from splitting or cracking – a positive for wooden paddles.

The downside of a wooden paddle is it weighs much heavier than say a composite paddle at 600g leading to extra weight carried and fatigue for a paddler.

Typhoon8 Wooden Paddle

The specifications of the paddle are below and these are crucial to take note:

Overall I would recommend this paddle to a beginner starting out in dragonboating who is on a budget. Sometimes if a paddler is not sure about whether they will stay in the sport, then this paddle is ideal for them. Otherwise I would highly recommend looking at the composite paddles that are available and spending a little extra.

You can see other reviews in our paddles review section