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                                                         Hybrid  paddles, laminated wood shafts with fiberglass , kevlar, or carbon fibre blades! -- just ask!                                  

  About Gillespie Paddles -- and SU paddles....

I have been paddling and building paddles for 30 plus years.  I began building wood paddles (which I still primarily do) at the very beginning of the angled paddle evolution -- in the early 70s.  Up to that point, all paddles had been straight, and pretty cumbersome, compared to what was to come.  The new age of the angled paddle took place in flatwater marathon canoeing -- on its banks, in the windy, twisty springfed creeks and rivers, and it was very exciting.  The angled paddle eventually grew outwards to encompass all forms of paddling, as it does now with standup paddling. 
So of course I began making SU-Paddles also!  Same stuff, just much longer paddles!

I've witnessed the evolution of the angled paddle from the the very pretty rough and crude beginnings, when old straight sticks were sawed at an angle and fiberglassed back together to create an angle -- very ugly stuff!!  Then foam cores began to replace wood in blades; carbon fibre was added to the foam, then the foam got better as techniques and technology improved, and voila, we now have super sophisticated carbon fibre paddles that weight 8 ounces!

6 or 7 years ago, someone decided to revive the ancient sport of standup board paddling -- originally performed to enhance wave surfing; now it's everywhere, on any kind of water, available to anyone.