Paddles lengh and hand placement

Hi All

Hoping for a bit of help, 10 + years on and I still struggle with this - I have 3 blades from over the years 212,214 and a 216 in lengh but struggle to know when to use which one as I feel most comfortable with the 212 (that is about 15 years old).

I want to sell one or get the 216 cut down as I dont use it. I was told that the 212 is better for speccy short stuff or ocean ski`s for run chasing and the 214 or 16 for longer stuff, whats the thoughts on this.

Then there is my hand grip as I was told balance the blade on your head then put your hands up ( shoulders and arm to elbow flat ) and mark that spot. I have a problem on the 214 and 216 where my left hand is happy at its taped mark but the right ( top ) wants to slide further, down this I guess makes me off line and has to affect my stroke. I dont have this problem on the 212 as the shaft I guess is the right lengh and my hands are at each end.

Years of poor technique probaly hasnt helped but I know a simple change could help the power to the water.

Would love some help....but only if you know what your on about .

Cheers

Pete

Sorry probaly should say I am about 6 foot 3 tall

www.slsa.com.au/site/_content/resource/00001013-docsource.pdf

Hi Pete , if you divide the length of the paddle by 3 and put your hands (middle of)in this place, this is where the paddle will work best (but maybe not where you will work best) If you are stronger your hands may move inwards from there and if you are weaker they may move out from there. After you have worked out what suits you then I suggest some electrical tape to stop ANY hand movement. As to the length of the paddle you may need a longer paddle on a spec ski (higher seat than ocean ski) and maybe longer paddling in the river or flat ocean where there is no extra resistance.
If you are paddling into chop or trying to chase runs then less paddle (length or blade size) will feel better. A lot depends on how fast you are trying to be and what sort of rating you wish to cruise at. It is good you have had the 212,214 and 216 to test them all out. Lats

..paddled for more years than I care to remember!

Hi Pete

1) At your height I'd say 212 in rough stuff and 214 when flat but unless they are the same blade you are wasting your time because it takes a while to adjust to the different blades as you chop and change. Best to sell all 3 for whatever you can get and buy a new paddl design with an adjustable shaft. Go for a Fenn 4 as they are well priced and strong. If budget not an issue get a Jantex Gamma or Bracsa 4 Min.

2) The easiest rule of thumb (and still best I think) is to stand in front of a mirror and put the exact centre of the shaft at your desired length on top of your head. Place your hands evenly so that the inside elbows are just inside 90 degrees.

3) Mark the outside of your hands with insulation (electrical) tape and measure the difference from each blade to the tape and average out so that they are exactly the same. Now put tape on the shaft inside of where your hand goes so that your hands don't slide in or out. I think my hands have 8 or 9cm between the tape on either side and wrap the tape around maybe 10 times to give it a nice raised profile to make sure your hands stay in the right place.

If your paddles come with the right or left hand raised grip thing to "help" you with locatingthe feather take it off and just have the plain shaft with tape "guides" as above.

Hope this helps.

If I use the equation at the end of that rather interesting article, it comes up with a paddle length of 222cm.
I've been doing a lot of experimenting with paddle length on flat water and 222cm works really well.
Not very good as my maximum paddle length is 220cm and to run that length pushes it outside of it's design limits.
Don't know how that long of a paddle would be in the ocean though.
At this stage, it looks like 218 is a pretty good length for me.
I can sprint faster on 213cm, but hold a higher speed on 220cm.
Trying to find the happy middle at the moment.

Thanks for all your help - appreciate it

The purpose of going to a shorter paddle length is to increase cadence.Increasing cadence makes sense going into wind, waves and current.The problem is, it also shortens the power phase which is already pretty darn short.I believe most people would be better served by using a smaller blade but leaving the paddle length long.It achieves the same result but without the downside.Lower the work load and increase the tempo. In cycling it's called spinning as apposed to mashing.

After paddling today, it pretty much looks like the longer the paddle I use, the faster I go on flat water.
Next up I shall compare paddle sizes.

When I came around the corner today the wind really hit me and the large paddle was a handful to hang onto, so next time I shall see if the smaller blade works as well or better.