SURFERS: Cut down ya paddle!

[Cardiff Sweeper]

Wow, just wow.  What a difference another few inches lopped off has made. I can lean over much harder and quicker. It feels more like surfing (duh!).

Going front side (left), I can get more vertical and get the board up the face and and off the lip, easier and faster than with a longer paddle...more build and release style of surfing.  Not to mention more spray.  I can push harder with my rear foot.

Going backside got easier to. It's got to be the angle of attack.  If you're paddle is too long, you can't dig off the rail as much.  This stuff just gets more exciting every time I paddle out.

72.5". Cut down from 76" or so.

Who knew that breaking a paddle would turn into something good?

[NatalSUP]

While using adopted paddles, aluminum or wood shafts, pumbler pieces as handle and cheapest kayak blades I've tried different paddle sizes getting used to bigger ones (I'm 5'8" and paddle with 78")

So when bought a definitive paddle I made it 78" ( if needed I could make it smaller).

With the surf abilities developing the needed to make it smaller arrived... The problem is how to lose a handle bonded with a araldite epoxi glue.

The solution was a removal disk as this above. After cutting the shaft this disk in a drill made a perfect separation.

Now it has 72" and the handle is glued with silicone glue waiting for a new cut.

[Bean]

You could have used a plasma cutter . But seriously, a common hacksaw will cut a CF shaft in seconds...

[NatalSUP]

You could have used a plasma cutter . But seriously, a common hacksaw will cut a CF shaft in seconds...

the cut was with a hacksaw. I used the disk to separate the handle from the piece of shaft, sanding a strip of it...

[Bean]

That makes much more sense, thanks for the clarification.

[tautologies]

For me it depends on:
- board length. Paddles your size or less are nearly mandatory for sub-7' boards, in part to force you to bend those knees to the max!
- wave shape. When trying to thread aggressive maneuvers on small waves, a long paddle wont simply fit in the space between you and the wave, you need to shorten it to be able to have room to have the paddle on the side rather than trailing backwards during turns. This is especially critical for chest-high hollow waves.
- It also depends on the blade shape. Short blades can have a shorter shaft, as you do not need to travel a lot to submerge them

This means you can perfectly enjoy cool surfing sessions on mellow waves on 9'+ boards with long (+6") paddles :-)

same here. I tend to go a lot shorter on the small board. I am very glad I have a variable length paddle. I used that all the time.

[captain twang]

i made mysels a surfing shortpaddle too. with a big fat blade.  works great. forces you to have softer knees and you havema slightly lower centerof gravity. 


My drum/guitar surfduo: www.captain-twang-and-his-rhythm-cat.de

[sup_surf_giant]

As has been mentioned I think, the smaller my board, the smaller I want my paddle.

If I jump on a race board, I am suddenly 6" higher out of the water and need a longer paddle.