Well it must be the day for it Jason.
This morning I was coming into the Noosa River mouth and as I took a hard stroke I heard a "crunch".
I lifted my paddle out and the whole blade had let go at the bottom joint. Half of the socket was still in place and stuck to the blade the other half was still stuck to the shaft.
The carbon had ripped apart. My paddle was not an Integra it was Fanatic Carbon 80.
I have had this paddle for about 18 months it has been used a lot but has also been very well looked after. Always rinsed and kept in a cover and never used to push off or anything similar.
I will freely admit to being rather smug on this forum about how I don't break paddles in the past. Well I have done it now and it wasn't fun, particularly where it happened and the two kilometre knee paddle back to my car.
I don't believe this paddle broke from misuse, I think it was probably fatigue or similar.
Not good.
ET.