seat rubbing on lower back

Just looking for any tips/advice.
When paddling my NK squall on flat water for long periods i often find i have rubbed the skin of the base of my back in two spots,just small patches about 1" diameter.
Do i need to raise my sitting position or lengthen my footboard position?
I have a slight bend in my legs & have reasonable leg drive. If i lengthen my footboard position will i have nothing to press against or should i always have a gap between the back of the seatwell?
Any comments most welcome

I would first shorten the foot board position and see how that goes. That will allow you to sit in a more upright position, and your lower back will then hopefully not make contact with the bucket at all.

If you have some flexibility issues then lengthening the foot board position will make you lean back, with more rubbing.

Also, make sure you are not pushing with your legs too soon as this will push you back in your seat, make sure you have completed and got a good catch before starting your leg drive, then any force from your legs should go into your paddle and propel your ski forward, not pushing yourself back into the seat.

Greg, I have a feeling you've just given me a Level Up with that advice!

Sounds like that's a possibility as I was recently told that even though I was going the motions I was producing very little force with my leg drive (& that was by Ivan Lawler).I'll give it a go this weekend.
Thanks again for the input, just shows how much there is to learn

I get exactly the same raw spots depending on boat I paddle. I have resolved it by either
1) putting in a butt pad which changes the contact point with the back of the seat but is only recommended if you're stable enough to deal with the extra seat height, or
2) glueing a 20x10cm 5mm thick piece of closed cell foam across the back of your seat a couple of cm below the contact spots (if you do this you may need to put some tape over the foam to make it more slippery so you can rotate properly).

Sitting properly upright and making sure I rotate correctly without pushing too hard back with my feet, together with some zambuk ointment to lube my lower back all help but did not completely resolve the issue for me.

Something that helps too is to rub some vaseline onto the danger areas... Before they get rubbed raw though.

I'm experiencing a bit of rubbing on my coccyx and on my lower back at the moment. The last time I paddled the vaseline sorted it. But I think I'm going to have to find a way to add a very thin butt pad to lift my coccyx away from the base of the cockpit. I'm loath to go very high because I'm comfortable stability-wise but I don't want to make the boat any more tippy.

I have had a rubbed-coccyx issue on occasion. What I have done is get a 15x15 cm square of neoprene, 3 to 5 mm thick, and stitch it inside of the pants, just below the belt-line,such that it hangs down and centers right over the coccyx.

I have done this for each of my paddling pants and shorts - seems to stop any chafing of the coccyx without adding any seat height.

Bill

All great advice.

Especially important for me was posture: I needed to improve core (ab) strength and improve flexibility (hamstring stretches with a straight back) so that I could sit up straight for the duration.

Kayaker Greg wrote: make sure you have completed and got a good catch before starting your leg drive, then any force from your legs should go into your paddle and propel your ski forward

Greg, yes yes yes! I know I thanked you last week, but I got a chance to test what you said this weekend.

Thanks again!

However small this piece of advice seems when written down, it is the perfect advice for me right now. You've just sorted out months of confusion for me on how to get to that next level. Amazing what a difference literally a split second can make!

Glad it was of help to you Ric, thanks for the feedback.

Hi JAGTER
Thanks for the advice seems a bit better.
Omly shortened up by 1 notch will try another & see how that goes!

thanks Kayaker greg for the advice i tried a slight pause before engaging legs(& brain but thats a bit more difficult!) seems better but need to keep practicing.

Hi there - the leg drive timing tip is a great one, for a whole range of reasons including the back rub drama.

Before I starting improving technique another sure fire way I found to stop bad back rub in my Stellar SR and SOT kayak was to simply tuck my surfer's rashie top into my paddling shorts - yes simple but it worked, after I spent a fortune trying to engineer the problem away by buying all the different neoprene pants I could find - including wearing Skins and other tights underneath. Best are the Mocke paddle pants because they have a separate liner that is like having on two layers, but tucking the top in helps.

Once I worked this out, on those days when the sun is out and paddling topless seems right, or you want to have a loose fitting top on, I came up with another solution. Simply cut the bottom 6" off a tightish fitting surf top, slip it on and tuck it inside your shorts with about 2" above the waist line which you just fold back over top of your shorts. Works a treat