The correct paddle length?

When I purchased my first surf ski several years ago, I bought a wing paddle along with it which I'm still using. However, a local surf ski dealer seems convinced that it's too long for me. I've done the "rule of thumb" sizing tests, and from what I can gather, it does seem to be the correct length:

When standing next to the paddle holding my arm straight up, the edge of the blade is about as high as my wrist.

When resting the paddle horizontally on top of my head and holding my elbows at 90 degrees, the distance from the edge of my palm to the base of the blade is about 5 inches.

These measurements were taken with the paddle set to its shortest length. It will expand another four inches or so, if desired. Does this sound right?

shorter is better
www.surfski.info/forum/15-tips/9123-padd...there-a-formula.html

I'm 176cm, wing paddle is adjustable 208-218cm and I use it at 210cm, width of boats used is 46cm, 51cm and 55 cm. I started with 218 ... feel comfy with 210 ( stability, power, pace, rotation, lower back pain after long distances all improved with shorter length)

On the Epic web site there is a paddle length calculator designed by Greg Barton. Go through the inputs and a length will come up for you, well a starting point. Your height has nothing to do with the length of your paddle, well at least in the ocean.

If you look around, you'll notice that many people have gone to slightly shorter paddle lengths in the last few years... this seems to be the norm now.

I used to paddle 207cm, and I am comfortably paddling 202cm.

It depends on a lot of factors, as mentioned above, but you also want to look at the following:
I paddle with a 204 or 205cm with Epic paddles and 202cm with Braca XI. Here's why:

It's not really about the paddle overall length AT ALL.
When paddling, your entire blade must be in the water and well submerged to be efficient.
To be accurate, it's about the length of the shaft*

Shaft length = Overall paddle length - entire blade length.
So if you go from one paddle to another brand or model, you actually want to measure your current paddle shaft and match it to the new one (as long as you are super confortable with the current setup).

One day, people will come up with a formula for paddle shaft length. In the meantime, and as I have said above, the norm seems to go with a shorter shaft, as well as a smaller blade size so that you do not explode your shoulders on longer sessions.

No such thing.....

That's my thought as a curious paddler who asks lots of quests to anyone I think I can learn from.
I know very good short paddlers who paddle 218cm and guys the same sort of body size paddle at 210. I started at 210 and worked my way up to settle on 214 but in the last few months have been training at 209.5 to be able to rate as high as my K2 partner for a 2 day 9.5 hour race. To me it was a crazy fast rating but I got used to it in order to race with that partner.

It comes down to so many factors like paddle blade area, strength, conditions, the amount of time you are paddling etc etc

As Ranga said, you can at least get a starting point from the Epic site and then you just start adjusting ever so slightly and see how your body feels.

For the same conditions, same boat , same race I will change paddle length by 1-2cm for a different blade shape (same blade area, just different characteristic).

Ranga wrote: On the Epic web site there is a paddle length calculator designed by Greg Barton. Go through the inputs and a length will come up for you, well a starting point. Your height has nothing to do with the length of your paddle, well at least in the ocean.

So according to Epic's paddle length calculator, I should be using a 213 cm Epic Mid Wing paddle with blades measuring 16.4cm x 50cm.

I just measured the two paddles that I currently own and they both happen to be 213 cm in overall length, but with different size blades. The smaller of the two has blades measuring roughly 17cm x 48 cm, while the second has larger blades, measuring 17cm x 51cm.

I prefer the one with the bigger blades, which add about .5 mph to my top speed. The downside is that it's noticeably heavier than the other paddle, but I don't experience shoulder fatigue even after four hours of paddling, so the small weight gain may not be a detriment.

So it appears that I've got the right size paddle(s), now it's just a matter of gaining the requisite strength and technique to use them properly.