I agree with you on the paddle. I broke my wood paddle a few weeks ago while doing a training run for a marathon. For some reason there's this 3' to 4' standing wave under a bridge where the river narrows down that just gives me fits. When I flipped the boat the paddle hit the bottom of the bridge and broke off the blade. I finished that run with a $6 canoe paddle. I have three wood paddles under construction. However...when I run the marathons it will be with one of the Epic signature series active touring paddles. During the actual marathon I made it through the standing wave ok.