Celtic Paddles & Tirio - Paddle Design Collaboration
- Jason
- 1 day ago
- 8 min read
We’ve been training packrafters for over 8 years, in that time we’ve noticed a few trends: People always have loads of questions about gear, typically this hinges around what boat they should buy. But one key area people seem to constantly overlook is their paddle…
Too often folks seem to be willing to consider a cheap paddle whilst wanting the fanciest boat – this isn’t necessarily the best combination. To illustrate my point, I’ll use the analogy of a car… In this analogy, you’re providing the power (engine), the boat’s the chassis and the paddle is the drive train – transferring the energy and propelling you where you want to go. It’s obvious that to get the best performance then the 3 need to complement each other. The truth however, is that packrafts are not very effective chassis! Despite recent developments in raft design, packrafts are comparatively slow and inefficient compared to hardshell kayaks, which makes the paddle's role even more important. A poor-quality paddle will a best significantly diminish the performance of any packraft and at worst cause discomfort, even injury after time. It’s important to consider your paddle and boat as a whole package, the better your paddle the better you and your boat will perform.
There’s some packraft paddle myths as well…
“The paddle must be long because of the increased packraft tube width”. No! Longer paddles just enter the water further away from the hull, increasing the side to side (yawing) that plagues so many packrafters. This means the boat follows a zig zag path as it sways with each stroke wasting your energy, so adding to the inefficiency!
Many opt for a skeg to try to eliminate this; skegs catch the bed, collect debris, increase weight and the chance of boat damage. It’s also worth noting that the skeg doesn’t necessarily stop you wasting your energy, your paddle stroke is still trying to make the boat swing from side to side, it’s just that the skeg tries to fight it…
The solution to this problem is routed in paddling technique, a standard-length paddle is fine, we must just learn to rotate our torso to allow the blade to enter the water near the boat. This reduces yawing and focusses our energy on where we want the boat to go – forward! We never provide skegs to clients, a bit of coaching technique never fails to minimise the yaw.
Yet even with good a quality kayak paddles I’ve always felt they could be better suited to packrafting, especially as we can find ourselves on both white water and open water on the same journey. Blades to generate instant power on white water, and efficient blades for touring over long distance. Carrying a paddle for each isn’t practical.
All our paddles here at Tirio are from Celtic Paddles, We love their modular systems, the ability to buy separate parts – shafts and blades and have found them extremely well made, durable and reliable. Also, a local Welsh company, what’s not to like! The Mania – 4 piece paddle is a stalwart part of the kit we use with clients on Tirio’s Packrafting guided trips and courses. For our own personal use, we use the higher end options. Up to now we have enjoyed the lighter, carbon, Kinetic touring paddle as used on our cross Scotland 315km ‘Longest Line’ Expedition.
Over the last couple of years, I’d been scratching my head about what constitutes a good packraft paddle, both on open and white water, so when Nigel and Craig of Celtic Paddles got in touch and asked us to work with them to design a bespoke packrafting paddle we jumped at the chance. After all, there’s not much they don’t know about building paddles so the chance to add some knowledge and ideas was too good an opportunity to miss.
I already been getting my ideas down on paper and had lots of notes and even patterns drawn out for the white-water blades and so in late November ’24, when we’d arranged a visit to Celtic HQ, I had them in my hand.
As well as the normal considerations for weight and packability. The key issues I’d identified over the previous years were:
Modular. I packraft on open water (inland and sea) but also white water. Good paddles are expensive but 2 good paddles are doubly so! Therefore, a modular design with interchangeable parts would mean I don’t need 2 separate paddles for both open and white-water. Also, it would allow me to replace bits rather than the whole thing if something broke.
Crossover. On longer journeys I don’t want to carry blades for all types of water, I wanted blades that would crossover: An open water paddle that’s good over distance but will also withstand lower grade white water, and, I also wanted a paddle that would provide enough power on mid+ grade white-water that wouldn’t be too punishing to use over multi-day trips where I’d inevitably be on slower stretches for hours.
Progression. On courses I’d often pass my top-end paddle to candidates, who would always say “Wow! What a difference!” But I understood why novices may be unable to afford multiple high-end paddles in order to progress on to harder water. So, I wanted something that would allow beginners to progress from open water through lower grade white water and then up the grades without needing to buy a whole new paddle.
Bikes and Boats. My bike is on my boat a lot these days and the frame reduces the space available to paddle. So, I needed a paddle that was still effective with a shorter stroke length. Even though we're fortunate to have a whole fleet of varied boats, I'm a creature of habit, and I simply love my Anfibio Rebel 2k for use on longer journeys and for bikerafting. So buying another boat simply to hold my bike seems a bit excessive, also, as 'bike rafting boats' are typically longer it generally means a heavier boat and a loss in performance (due to hull flexion).
Utility. I also wanted a paddle that would do other things. For instance, I use my paddles as tent and tarp poles to save weight, not all my paddles can do this.
Shortly after our meeting in December, a demo of the new shape paddle blades arrived – an early Christmas present! Along with Celtic’s Omega 650 and 700 blades, for us to get a feel for their dihedral blade shape and low-profile spine combined with lightweight carbon. (As the demo blades were still in heavier plastic at this point) We were soon on the water to give them a good testing on open and white water.
We gave our feedback to Celtic:
New Blade Design:
• Used with a 205-215 carbon/glass leverloc shaft. We compared it alongside a standard XTi in nylon and a Mania in nylon. Tested on Open water and WW G2/3.
• The blade shape allowed for a lazier (lower) entry angle, but didn’t seem to generate much additional yawing of the packrafts. This we felt was beneficial as many packrafters aren’t
easily able to torso rotate enough to get a vertical shaft on blade entry.
• The blades seemed to ‘catch’ early and we found that we were able to generate plenty of power from the
blades even in aerated and shallower water. We felt it was similar (marginally less) compared to the Xti, despite the smaller power face. (I was surprised that it felt like it was generating a similar amount of power to the Xti – so repeated this comparison 3 times – at the end I still felt it was the case.) – maybe (?) due to the blade catching slightly further forward and away from the hull, due to the lower angled stroke and boat width, thus giving a longer stroke
• The leverloc on a 205-215 allowed enough adjustment for Jason 6’2” and Marianne 5’9”.
The 650 & 700 Omega blades that would inform the dihedral design of the new blade:
• Used with a carbon/glass 205-215 leverlock shaft. We compared it alongside a same sized carbon kinetic. Tested on Open water and WW G2.
• Super light – low swing-weight.
• No flutter – even when really pulling hard. On the lower grade white water they were great, with enough depth it was easy to generate speed without needing to adopt a very high angled stroke – though, of course, you need to be mindful about digging and scratching in shallower water.
• Over distance they’re a joy to use – the blade feels smooth throughout the stroke – Marianne reported that the dihedral blades didn’t cause any niggles in her rotator cuff tendons (she damaged one last year and it's still a bit sensitive).
• Easy to blend strokes.
• The leverloc on a 205-215 allowed enough adjustment for Jason 6’2” and Marianne 5’9” and gave enough clearance on 215 to keep drips out of the boat – this is a real bonus as over distance; paddle drips can easily put more than a litre in an open packraft due to its hull width. (Drip rings don’t help).
By March we had the carbon demo paddle blades to test. These had a good outing on our 5 Day White Water Packraft Expedition Course on the River Spey in April as well as on local rivers. An absolute delight to use.
By May we had the final branded products, now available at Celtic Paddles. Plenty of discussion, trial and modification and a lot of attention to the little details has produced a paddle system that I’m proud to be involved in designing. Here’s where our collaboration has arrived at; I think we mostly got there..!
The “Surge”:
Use: White-water, touring and bike-rafting.
Shaft:
Cylindrical carbon – tough, stiff and light. Left or right-handed indexing to optimise control.
Foam inserts to aid paddle floatation in the vent of capsize.
Leverlock ferrule with adjustment between 205-215cm and varied feather settings. Allowing optimisation of length for paddlers of varied heights and adjustment in varied conditions. Longer - lower angle for open water and wind. Shorter - steeper angle on rivers and when bike-rafting.
End caps to prevent damage in transit and wear on fabric in tents, rucksacks etc.
Blades:
Carbon – tough, stiff and light to maximise efficiency.
A dihedral profile ensures even water distribution over the power face of the blade, minimising twist and flutter. This requires a lighter grip and reduces fatigue, this means the Surge is more forgiving over long stretches of flatter water,
The Surge’s blade shape is optimised for packrafting on white-water. The offset profile is aligned to produce drive quickly in the early part of the stroke’s power-phase, the offset also creates space around the shoulder of the blade on the inboard side, accommodating the packraft’s tube profile and allowing the paddle to enter the water closer to the hull –reducing yaw and maximising forward drive.
These features also allow for a shorter stroke length, which is perfect for when a bike is on-board!
The “Quest”:
Use: Touring – open water and lower grade rivers.
Shaft:
Cylindrical carbon – tough, stiff and light. Left or right-handed indexing to optimise control.
Foam inserts to aid paddle floatation in the vent of capsize.
Leverlock ferrule with adjustment between 205-215cm and varied feather settings. Allowing optimisation of length for paddlers of varied heights and adjustment in varied conditions. Longer - lower angle for open water and wind. Shorter - steeper angle on rivers.
End caps to prevent damage in transit and wear on fabric in tents, rucksacks etc.
Blades:
Carbon – tough, stiff and light to maximise efficiency.
A dihedral profile to ensure even water distribution over the power face of the blade, minimising twist and flutter. This requires a lighter grip and reduces fatigue over time – a blessing on longer journeys.
The blade shape is optimised for touring. The longer thinner profile produces power smoothly throughout your stroke, reducing stress on arms and shoulders.
We love the results! Check out the video of our story below and how we developed these paddles in collaboration with Celtic Paddles. We hope you like them too!
