OUR STORY

Our story is a simple one! We are two brothers from New Zealand who share a passion for whitewater kayaking and also a nature that leads us to question the status quo, and how we can do things better rather than accepting whats currently available.

The Story of Hard Core paddles started back in 2013 when Andy managed to break two (expensive) paddles in one day, on the same waterfall! And so began the questioning. How could you make a paddle that wont break so easily but is still light and responsive? Andy's background in boat building, which involves combining modern composite materials and techniques with more traditional timber construction led him to believe that the answer lied in the core of the shaft. Essentially a solid, or hard core rather than a hollow one.
Finally after four years of trial and error, frustrations and seemingly insurmountable issues with manufacturing, along with valuable input and ideas from Mike we felt like we had something that was actually better than we had ever imagined!
So In late 2016 we decided to take the step to manufacturing. Mike's garage in Gold Bar WA would become the workshop and using his background in mechanical engineering he went about building all the specialist machines and equipment we needed. In the Spring of 2017 Andy joined Mike from NZ and together they set about bringing it all together. Needless to say this was way more difficult than expected but by the end of the year things were starting to come together. Over the next few years we continued to refine, develop and expand our range of paddles and and we can now offer options to suit almost every paddler.