Wing Paddles

No matter how fast a kayak is designed to run through the water, it’s not going anywhere without a paddle in your hands. Paddles provide our connection to the water. Initial gear obsessions may focus on the boats, but it doesn’t take long for passionate paddlers to focus on their choice of paddle. Stable, smooth and powerful, Epic paddles will have you paddling farther and faster, and are equally at their best in the hands of champion racers, world-class expedition paddlers, at your local paddling club, or for cruising and exploring.

Epic Paddles are based on comfort and features that enhance real-world performance. Every Epic paddle is designed by Epic founder and world renowned paddler, Greg Barton. Greg competed in three Summer Olympics, where he won four Olympic medals. He has also won numerous races in surfski, outrigger canoe and marathon. His design philosophy is that every Epic customer should benefit from excellent, performance driven designs that allow them to paddle to the best of their ability.

As Greg illustrates below in the Q&A below, the Epic wing paddle is meant to be ergonomic, stable and efficient – a paddle aimed at surfski racers and general fitness paddlers, with increasing popularity among recreational surfski and touring kayakers.

Q: Which combo would you rather have: a fast boat design with a poor paddle, or a slower boat design with a high performance paddle?

Greg Barton, Epic Designer: Your boat and paddle should work together to provide the most efficiency and enjoyment. If I could choose only one, I’d probably take an efficient boat – because some of the recreational designs are simply not efficient in the water. However, you get more bang for your buck with a good paddle. You can get the best paddle on the market for around £360, while the best boat will cost you thousands. If I was on a budget, I’d opt for a mid priced, efficient boat with a top end paddle.

Our guide for helping you choose your paddle

Like surfskis, paddles can be a very personal choice regarding fit and comfort. What works well for one paddler may not suit his or her paddling partner.

There are many options with regards Paddle flex, shaft length, feather, blade shape and size. To suit the paddler’s build and technique, water conditions - just some of the parameters that can affect the stroke. Finding the right match can greatly impact a paddler’s speed, endurance, stability, health and overall performance.

The Epic Paddle range covers two designs of paddles: Touring Paddles and Wing Paddles. Both paddles share the same construction, only the blade shape & size differs.

Touring:

The Active Blade provides more grip on the water, with more load going through the body, giving a higher level of performance.

The Relaxed Blade, is a smaller blade size, giving a smoother stroke with less load on the body.

Wing:

1. Mid Wing (750cm2):
The award-winning Epic Mid Wing Paddle has become the top choice for fitness and racing paddlers, and increasingly, touring kayakers who want to maximize the potential of their forward stroke.

2. Small Mid (735cm2):
The Epic Small Mid Wing Paddle is based on the award-winning Mid Wing paddle, with a 2% reduced blade surface area. This slightly trimmed-down design has broadened the appeal of the wing paddle, reducing the loading on the body (reducing tiredness and injury/stress) making it ideal for smaller framed paddlers, cruisers and racers paddling long distances or spending longer on the water, and those who simply seek a smaller option to maximize their efficiency.

3. Mid Twist (700cm2):
The Twist is an all-new paddle series created by Epic to give maximum efficiency for experienced paddlers. The unique shape of the Twist blade provides an aggressive, clean catch, and extremely efficient stroke with a very stable feel in the water. The first paddle introduced in the series, the Mid Twist, grabs the water effectively like a blade with greater surface area – thanks to the enhanced efficiency.

With several years in development and testing, the result is a totally unique, original paddle blade design. The Twist blade enters close to the boat during the catch phase, then flows outward naturally during the power phase of the stroke and exits smoothly. No additional effort is required to create optimal flow of the paddle.

The Mid Twist is equivalent to a mid-size wing, suitable for the majority of surfski and fitness paddlers, looking for the next step in their progression to increased performance.

The Twist is a dramatic step forward, when you have a look at one, you will see how different it is, once you paddle with one you will know. Try the Mid Twist and decide for yourself!

Shaft and Construction

The shaft of all Epic wing paddles is oval shaped and they are all “splits” - in two halves that come together with Epic’s Length-Lock 2™ adjustable ferrule technology as standard, allowing the paddler to adjust the feather (angle of the blades in relation to each other) to suit personal preference, for both a left or right handed paddler.

1. The Full Carbon shaft (Black carbon) is a stiff competition spec shaft. This provides gains in performance, with increased loading through the body.

2. The Club Carbon shaft (Green) is Epic's "soft" carbon shaft, which has more flex in the shaft thus reducing the load on the body. We recommend this for touring, fitness, less experienced and younger paddlers.

Shaft Length

There are four choices of shaft length, with a variation of up to 10cm in each size: 

To find your perfect paddle length or paddle type visit the Epic Paddle Wizard  or contact us.

All Epic Paddle come in a Silver Bag (complementary) so no need to buy one separately. We sell a range of padded travel bags which you may want to look at, for travelling and keeping paddles safe in transit.