C-Forum

Question: What length of paddle do you use .

Carbon or Fiberglass?

wood shaft/carbon blade - grip hand in front of my eyes
fibreglass/fibreglass - grip hand on forehead, just testing out if that works for me. feels like giving me more power in the moment.. but have some more river testing before me!

C1 & Quake: grip hand in front of my eyes, carbon
Slalom OC: grip hand over my forehead, carbon

Hey I hate to be a butt-head here : )


But the "over my eyes" ...in"front of my eyes"

I looked on a tape measure and couldn't find it : )

in inches do you use the following?

54 "
56"
58"
60"
62"

54" mostly. Of course variables include length of blade,saddle height, body geometry, paddling style, shoulder condition, etc. I'm about 5'11" w/a long torso and used to use 58"-60", but got sold on a shorter paddle - ease of cross strokes, stroke rate, easier on shoulders, works better on shallow SEn stuff, etc. I don't think I've noticed any loss of leverage or reach (except surfing a big tandem).

56" Werner

bought it used but it still has a lot of life left ...

I'm 5'10", 31" inseam.

13 foot OC with Mohawk saddle.

58" Bandit (glass)

I'm 6'3" and have paddles 59", 60" and 61".

C-1 = 56"
OC-1 = 58"
But, haven't we done this before?

I started with a 56" several years ago. It's what I had so I stuck with it.
I recently had a paddle made 58", I figured if I didn't like it I could always shorten it, But I like it and I'm sticking to it, Until I find something lighter for racing.

Height 6'
weight 210

boats- Maxim, Viper 11, & Supafly.

Cumnock wrote:Hey I hate to be a butt-head here : )


But the "over my eyes" ...in"front of my eyes"

I looked on a tape measure and couldn't find it : )

in inches do you use the following?

54 "
56"
58"
60"
62"

That's because absolute lengths are total nosnense. The seat in my prelude is 3cm lower then the one in my viper. So basically I could have my "prelude-paddle" 3cm shorter.
Paddling a touring canoe with a bench, I'm higher, so I could get a longer paddle, but then again would shoulder-hight be ok. And in a C1 slalom racer I might want to have a really low seat and a long paddle.
I'm a small boy, short upper body, you're a big boy, large upper body. So if I'm paddling a 52" paddle, that might be perfectly ok, but totally wrong for you.

Conclusion: you have to test it in your boat.

Oh, and you should talk about shaft length, not paddle length. Try comparing paddle length of a flatwater paddle with a whitewater paddle. Then you end up with a flatwater paddle much longer then your whitewater paddle, but actually you want the opposite.

I shortened my paddle, sitting in my boat, measuring at my eyes, indicate, shorten and that's it. I don't even know my shaft-length.

cheajack wrote: But, haven't we done this before?

Of course. Internet fourms are just like magazines - the same stories keep getting revisited on about a 1.5 year rotation.

cheajack wrote: But, haven't we done this before?

Yep the period on this wave is between 2 and 6 months, kinda like the "royalex sux" wave.

I don´t see any sense in length measures because the paddle length has to fit to your upper body height / seat height / boat type / paddling style. The only way to compare the length of my paddle to the one of someone taller than me is by the relation of the paddle to our bodys speak how high or low is the grip hand.

I use: a 55" Bandit (all fiberglass) in my C1's (6" saddles),
a 58" Mitchell Premier (Wood with carbon wrapped blade), in my OC's (10"&12" saddles),
a 48" Grey Owl Voygeur (Laminated Wood, blade cut down) for my squirtboat (1" saddle),
and my Split is a 56" Double Dutch Turbine (Carbon Hollowform Blade, Glass/Carbon shaft).

I'm 6'3" with a 36" inside leg.