THE PADDLE REGISTER · 2024 · CURRENT

Selkirk VANGUARD Control

A small but telling release: the biggest legacy brand conceded that raw carbon had won and brought it out of the Labs program into the Vanguard line at $200. Reviewers treated it as a conventional control paddle rather than a breakthrough. It marks the year Selkirk's mainline caught up to the raw-carbon market.

List price
$200
Launched
Feb 23, 2024date known to the day
Build
Polymer honeycomb
Thickness
16mm
Shapes
Elongated (Invikta) · Standard (Epic)
Pro
Rachel Rohrabacher, Lauren Stratman (PPA Tour, per press release)

photos and colorways at selkirk.com ↗

1216.5 in nominal7.5 in5.5 in nom.16 mm
Drawn to scale from a nominal elongated outline; this paddle's own dimensions are not published. Left: the face. Right: cut away to the core. An original drawing, not a product photo.
USA PICKLEBALLNot confirmed here Sanctioned amateur play.
UPA-ANot confirmed here PPA Tour and MLP.
QUIET CATEGORYNot listed USAP's under-80 dB list for noise-restricted courts.
PATENTSNo patent action known Brand-level status, from the ITC case file and settlements.

Status checked Sep 21, 2026. Lists change; confirm on the USAP and UPA-A lists before a tournament.

TIMELINE

  1. Feb 23, 2024 LAUNCH Selkirk press release announces the Vanguard Control at $200, available now. selkirk.com ↗

HOW IT IS BUILT

Selkirk's first raw-carbon paddle in its main line: two layers of Raw QuadCarbon fiber on each side of a 16mm polypropylene honeycomb core, with a new octagonal grip.

  1. 116mm polypropylene honeycomb core
  2. 2two layers of Raw QuadCarbon fiber per side
Face
Raw QuadCarbon fiber

Construction per selkirk.com ↗

Press release names only the Invikta shape; the Epic shape is confirmed only via retailer listings.

1216 in nominal8 in5.25 in nom.16 mm
Vanguard Control Epic 16mm

MEASURED BY THE LABS

otherReview · weartesters.com

The register does not re-measure paddles or copy a lab's numbers wholesale. Power, pop and spin belong to the people with the radar guns; go read them.

FIELD REPORTS · AFTER YOU BUY IT

Reviewers measure a paddle new. Nobody measures it at hour sixty.

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Keep a bag on Rally: log the hours you put on this paddle, when the grit fades, and when it goes dead. It stays on your device until you press "send a wear report", and the report carries no name.

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SOURCES · MEDIUM CONFIDENCE

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