Lendal Ion Paddle Blades by Lendal USA

Lendal has added something unique to its Kinetik touring blade: phosphorescence. The cast-resin Ion blade is translucent off-white by day and an eerie luminous green by night to make it easier for your paddling partners to keep track of you during nighttime kayaking.

On a bright sunny day, the Ion blades can pick up a lot of light, and if you take them from the sunlight into a completely dark room, you could read a newspaper by their glow. Nightfall isn’t quite so sudden, so as daylight fades, so does the glow of the paddle blades. And that, as it turns out, is a good thing. If you give the blades an additional charge with a flashlight after nightfall, their glow will become bright enough to be distracting, flying by like ghosts every time you take a stroke. The glow won’t interfere with your night vision, but it could interfere with your concentration on navigation.

Two hours after sunset under a night sky lit with the cloud-reflected glow of shoreside streetlights, the blades were plainly visible up to a distance of about 25 yards. Between 25 and 50 yards, they become less visible in the center of the field of vision and more noticeable in peripheral vision. From 50 to 75 yards, the blades can be hard to pick out from the background, and it’s their motion that makes them stand out. Beyond 75 yards, the Ion blades fade into invisibility. The blades will continue to glow all night long, and after you get to camp, they make a great bedside “table” for your flashlight, glasses and other things that the tent fairy often hides after you’ve fallen asleep.

The Ion blades are made of Lendal’s SF, a polypropylene reinforced with glass fibers, with a luminous compound added. The blades are part of Lendal’s Paddlok system and can be used with a variety of different shafts.
Luminous paddle blades may not have a broad appeal—for those who do go paddling in the dark, there are lots of great lighting options. Still, it’s good to see a manufacturer coming up with truly novel ideas and broadening the options we have available.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *