Who surfs with "shorter paddles"?

[beaglebuddy]

Whatever works for you, personally I like a long paddle, I'm 77" tall and was using an 88" paddle, it felt about right but when the paddle broke I modified it to 93" and it feels fine as well, that's a 16" over my head Werner Nitro for surfing.
For the F-18 downwind board I have been experimenting with 95"

[TallDude]

That's what I'm talk'n about. A big boy stick. The other day I swapped paddles with a buddy of mine who just picked up a nice wood Johnson Stick. I wanted to check out the feel of his new paddle. He  started paddling with mine and said, " wow! You get so much power out of this long paddle. I would have never thought there would be that much difference." My 90" vs his 80". We'll have to GPS it sometime.

[Dwight (DW)]

This Winter my wife and I were looking to improve our technique, so we asked for advice from the hardest ripping SUP guy I know (Surf Machine on my blog). He catches impossibly mussy waves on an 8'0 SUP and has balance like a ninja warrior.

His advice was to LENGTHEN our paddles. Short paddles reduce your balance, especially important now that we surf 7'3 and 7'8 SUPs. Just bending over at the waist can sink the nose on a small board. Paddling over whitewater, all hunched over, is bad for balance too. Upright, knees bent, is a better position balance wise.

It was horrible making the adjustment to longer, but now that we've done it, we agree.

Knees bent, chest up, short fast strokes up by the nose get you into more waves than hunched over ditch digging.

[WB]

6-7" for surf - seems right and comfortable for me - a bit of reach but easily spun and shifted in tight areas.
12" for racing distance -like TallDude and several have said - longer reach, more loading on the blade.

-W

[Aves]

I agree with DW. I went from a 6" over to 9" over and feel i have better balance and catch more waves.

There has got to be some significance to body structure as well. If you have 2 guys the same height, one that is long limbed and the other that has a long torso... i would bet that they would end up feeling comfortable with different paddle lengths.

 

[beaglebuddy]

Really feelin' it in the medial deltoids with the longer paddle.
When my 88" broke I had to use my wife's 77" (which is too short for her at 5'6") it was near impossible, I felt like I had no balance, no power and had to hunch over.
Of course a paddle could be too long, I have noticed a lower stroke rate with 93" vs. 88" I'll probably end up compromised between the two but for now I'm diggin' the deltoid workout.

[TallDude]

Mine was originally at 93, but I did cut it down to 90 which I've been very happy with for at least 6 months now. Because of the extension insert, I can't cut it down any further and have the handle fit in the shaft. If I go shorter it will be a new paddle.