Review of the Galasport Manic Whitewater paddles, by Amber Maslen

I started whitewater kayaking properly last year, after a wonderful 15 years of slalom.
I knew I needed a paddle for whitewater – not the lightweight type I had been using
for racing. People had a lot of advice, and even more suggestions. I only knew I liked
a slalom shape, have beaten-up elbows, was going to be travelling a lot, and wanted
something I could trust not to break.

I asked Teresa at Canoe-tec what I needed, since a lot of the advice I was given was
from very good, experienced paddlers who – finally – are much bigger than me. I
know the way a paddle works for me on a 29mm shaft is going to be different than
for someone with 32mm and bigger blades. We agreed that what I prefer in slalom is
likely to work in whitewater too, so we landed on Galasport Manics, with a reinforced
29mm shaft.

We have some incredible brands in whitewater, and some unbelievably advanced
development happens behind the scenes to make gear as tough and safe as
possible. Some brands are famous for their durability, like Lettmann. Some have a
reputation for finesse, like Galasport. They rarely have a reputation for both. When
the paddle arrived, I was surprised to see the shaft – I incredibly naively ordered
“reinforced”, and being totally honest I had no idea what that meant. Canoe-tec
delivered exactly what I asked for, a reinforced shaft with manic blades, and a
completely bombproof USA connector.

It feels risky to sing a paddles praise and invite the “jinx”. But this paddle has been
with me through Norway, Scotland, Czechia, Morocco, Turkey, Spain, Portugal,
Albania, and Corsica – more than thirty new rivers and a steep learning curve – and
is only now starting to show signs of wear. New paddlers are hard on gear, and
coming from a slalom background I’ve been incredibly lucky to have had the ability to
jump in somewhat at the deep end. This paddle has survived beginner mistakes on
very much not-beginner whitewater, and I don’t think I’ll use anything else for the rest
of my paddling life.

Words courtesy of  Amber Maslen

Images courtesy of HIKO team member Michal Kuthan