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Gear Talk / Paddles! Surf vs flat water...
« on: July 14, 2021, 03:23:27 PM »
Hey y'all, as a fairly new SUP paddler (not new to paddling though, I have a bunch of years under my belt in seat #6 in an OC6...) I'm finding myself annoyed at my adjustable paddle that constantly wants to adjust its length through the course of a session (flat water or surf) so I'm starting to look at better, fixed length options. I've found around a 78" long paddle works for me, but I'll have to double check that. It also has like a 93^2 blade as well.
I'll be trying to hit up two local SF bay area places that do a lot of SUP type demos to see what they have, but I want to start narrowing down blade size size, shaft length, stiffness, etc, before I start demoing stuff...
We had a bunch of factors that went into the OC6 paddles, but it seems like SUP paddles are a lot more sensitive to individual factors than outrigger canoe paddles are. Ideally I'd like to get a high quality paddle that I can use for both surf and flat water stuff, but I do understand that I might have to pick one due to the general differences in length that tend to be "Optimal" for each discipline. I suspect I'll prob want to drop the blade size down from the 90's to the 80's, but I haven't had issues with this size so far.
About me: 5'11", 180lbs female, I have long legs and arms, but I don't really have a slender build, I'm more of a muscular, athletic build. Generally strength isn't an issue for me in activities like this, lol. I have a few decades of mountain biking and semi-pro racing so I've been fortunate to be able to keep a fair bit of strength even as I'm recovering from shoulder surgery 8mo ago, I had a SLAP repair, Bankart repair and like 6 anchors to repair it after re-injuring it following a MTB crash a few years ago, dislocating it. This then ended up manifesting itself as a super unstable shoulder that'd dislocate every week or so. Fun! So I started SUP to try to get the back/shoulder strength back a bit because honestly I'd rather do this than being stuck in a gym.
Anyways, hit me with some rec's for mfg's, blade styles etc. I've done a fair bit of research so far, and tried a few of the really high end black project paddles but those seem like they required a higher stroke cadence than I'm comfortable/able to do.
I'll be trying to hit up two local SF bay area places that do a lot of SUP type demos to see what they have, but I want to start narrowing down blade size size, shaft length, stiffness, etc, before I start demoing stuff...
We had a bunch of factors that went into the OC6 paddles, but it seems like SUP paddles are a lot more sensitive to individual factors than outrigger canoe paddles are. Ideally I'd like to get a high quality paddle that I can use for both surf and flat water stuff, but I do understand that I might have to pick one due to the general differences in length that tend to be "Optimal" for each discipline. I suspect I'll prob want to drop the blade size down from the 90's to the 80's, but I haven't had issues with this size so far.
About me: 5'11", 180lbs female, I have long legs and arms, but I don't really have a slender build, I'm more of a muscular, athletic build. Generally strength isn't an issue for me in activities like this, lol. I have a few decades of mountain biking and semi-pro racing so I've been fortunate to be able to keep a fair bit of strength even as I'm recovering from shoulder surgery 8mo ago, I had a SLAP repair, Bankart repair and like 6 anchors to repair it after re-injuring it following a MTB crash a few years ago, dislocating it. This then ended up manifesting itself as a super unstable shoulder that'd dislocate every week or so. Fun! So I started SUP to try to get the back/shoulder strength back a bit because honestly I'd rather do this than being stuck in a gym.
Anyways, hit me with some rec's for mfg's, blade styles etc. I've done a fair bit of research so far, and tried a few of the really high end black project paddles but those seem like they required a higher stroke cadence than I'm comfortable/able to do.
