Anfibio Fly Paddle Review

Overview

The Anfibio Fly is a 5-piece breakdown paddle built for people counting grams on a packrafting trip. At 460g and packing down to 49cm, it’s marketed as either a primary paddle for calm-water micro-packrafts or a stash-it-in-your-pack backup for when your main paddle breaks or floats away. It’s not trying to be a whitewater paddle — it’s trying to be the lightest thing that still floats a boat.

Key Specs

Spec	Detail
Weight	460 g
Packed length	49 cm
Pieces	5
Adjustable length	178–210 cm
Shaft diameter	24 mm
Shaft material	Fiberglass
Blade material	Nylon-fiberglass
Blade size	35 x 15 cm
Blade angle	Adjustable (feathering)

Performance

The core appeal here is obvious on paper: the Anfibio Fly has a minimum weight of just 460g, and it can be broken down into five segments none longer than 49cm so it can be easily stored in any daypack. That packed size is genuinely tiny — small enough to strap to the outside of a hip pack or bury in a food bag as a dedicated spare.

Where opinions diverge is how it actually paddles. One long-term tester who paired it with an Anfibio Delta MX packraft ran it through extended use over a few months, including pushing against the wind through coastal swell in the archipelago, paddling through rivers and small streams and crossing lakes, and came away with basically no complaints, calling it a solid choice for a lightweight kit that also works fine as a backup. That reviewer noted the blades are made of nylon, which helps keep both weight and price down, and that the blades do flex quite a bit if pulling by hand, which is expected, but are robust — he never felt the need to babysit them.

A more critical, back-to-back test tells a different story. That reviewer directly compared the Fly against a full-size Werner Corryvreckan and found the thin shaft and small, bendy blades lacked the solid feel of a conventional, full-sized paddle, and combined with a more aggressive paddling style, the flex didn’t produce the sort of confident propulsion needed in a principal paddle. In numbers, he clocked about 15% slower paddling speed than the Corryvreckan — 5kph vs a 6kph max. He also flagged a real-world safety concern: after fighting a stiff headwind with the rigid paddle and getting worked, he admitted he was sure he would have damaged the joints or maybe even broken the Anfibio Fly in those conditions, even though at some stage you may find yourself having to paddle like that to get to shore.

Both testers agree on the sweet spot: calm water. The manufacturer pitches it that way too — the optimised blade surface offers good propulsion in calm and free-flowing waters, such as open lakes, fjords or slow rivers — and the critical reviewer’s own conclusion backs that up, saying it would suit a packrafting trek in a light packraft where you’re crossing small calm lakes or briefly following benign rivers where you don’t need to power through rapids.

One quirk worth knowing about: the blades are undersized compared to what you’re probably used to. The blade size is considerably smaller than typical paddles, which is part of how Anfibio kept the weight down, but it also means each stroke moves less water — you’ll be paddling at a higher cadence to cover the same ground as a full-size touring paddle.

The adjustability is a genuine strength. You get a length freely adjustable from 178cm to 210cm, suitable for adults of any size as well as children, plus feathering to any blade angle — no fixed ferrule positions to fuss with. That range, combined with the thin shaft, is also why one reviewer flagged it as a good option for outfitting kids or smaller paddlers, since a shorter, thinner-shaft setup flexes less and is easier to handle for someone without much arm strength.

The nylon-fiberglass blades earn some durability points too. The nylon fibreglass blades have some flexibility, making them durable against contacts with rocks or river beds — that flex that costs you power on a hard stroke is the same flex that keeps the blade from cracking when you clip a submerged rock.

Bonus use case: at least one long-distance hiker-packrafter used the Fly’s shaft sections as an emergency replacement tent pole when a carbon trekking pole snapped mid-trip — a nice reminder that multi-piece gear can double up in a pinch.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Genuinely tiny packed size (49cm) and light weight (460g) — easy to justify carrying as a dedicated backup
• Full length adjustability (178–210cm) and infinite feathering angle covers a wide range of paddlers and boats
• Nylon-fiberglass blades flex rather than crack on rock strikes
• Doubles in a pinch as an emergency tent/shelter pole
• Affordable relative to carbon ultralight paddles

Cons

• Small blade surface and thin 24mm shaft mean noticeably less power per stroke than a full-size paddle
• One back-to-back test measured it roughly 15% slower than a proper touring paddle
• Flex under hard strokes or wind/current loading raises real concerns about joint durability in tough conditions
• Not a paddle you’d want as your only option for anything beyond calm lakes or gentle current

Who Should Buy This

The Fly makes the most sense as a backup paddle you hope never to use, or as the primary paddle for a genuinely ultralight setup on calm lakes, fjords, and slow-moving rivers — the kind of trip where a packraft is more of a river-crossing tool than a whitewater plaything. It’s also a sensible pick for outfitting a kid’s packraft or a lightweight travel-packraft kit where every gram in the pack matters more than stroke efficiency.

Verdict

The Anfibio Fly does exactly what it promises: it’s about as light and packable as a functional 5-piece paddle gets, and it holds up fine for calm water and backup duty. Push it hard against wind or current, though, and the thin shaft and small blades show their limits fast — this is a paddle to complement a serious touring paddle, not replace one. I’d put it at a 6.5/10: excellent at its intended job, but buy it knowing what that job is.