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Re: paddle sizing (shaft length)
By:Nick Schade
Date: 8/14/1998, 2:27 pm
In Response To: paddle sizing (shaft length) (Paul Stomski)

The problem with any sizing rule is it is going to be limited to certain characteristics. Saying a paddle should should have a reach from your feet to your upstretched hand does not take into account peoples varying proportions or the varying proportions of blades. Shaft length can not be seperated from blade length. Overall length is the combination of blade length and shaft length and is not very informative. The right paddle for someone with long narrow blades will not be the same length as the right paddle with short, wide blades.

The Greenland style presumably has a rule for blade length, but if a european body is proportioned differently than an Inuit's how does the formula translate?

Seat height, boat width, blade shape, paddling style will all effect what is the correct length paddle. I imagine you might be able to craft a formula that would account for all aspects and squirt out a numerical length, but I don't know of one now.

Choice of a paddle currently is not something that can be determined on land. You need to get in a boat, have a wide selection of paddles on the dock and try them out. Or, get a paddle, swap with your friends, if you like your friend's better, keep it and never paddle with him again.

> What the heck should your leg length have to do with the size
> of a paddle?!?! It should be a function of your sitting body height,
> boat beam, sitting elevation relative to the water line, and personal
> preferences.

> I am in the process of deciding on a paddle myself and I think
> that the shaft portion should be measured separately from the shaft/blade
> combination.

Messages In This Thread

Paddle choice for CLC Patuxent 19.5
Brian C. -- 8/10/1998, 1:56 pm
Re: Paddle choice for CLC Patuxent 19.5
NPenney -- 8/11/1998, 7:43 am
Re: Paddle choice for CLC Patuxent 19.5
Al Bratton -- 8/10/1998, 8:20 pm
Re: Paddle choice for CLC Patuxent 19.5
Brent Curtis -- 8/11/1998, 8:57 am
How about a boat in the living room of a second story apartment?
Brian C. -- 8/11/1998, 5:05 pm
Re: How about a boat in the living room of a second story apartment?
jim champoux -- 8/13/1998, 10:30 am
morning hurdles
Brian C. -- 8/13/1998, 1:49 pm
Re: How about a boat in the living room of a second story apartment?
Martin Foil -- 8/11/1998, 5:09 pm
apartment not a condo
Brian C. -- 8/11/1998, 6:01 pm
Re: Boats in the basement
Ross Leidy -- 8/11/1998, 11:41 am
Re: Boats in the basement
jim champoux -- 8/11/1998, 2:25 pm
22in dead on
Brian C. -- 8/10/1998, 8:41 pm
Re: 22in dead on
Al Bratton -- 8/10/1998, 8:59 pm
paddle sizing (shaft length)
Paul Stomski -- 8/11/1998, 3:26 pm
Re: paddle sizing (shaft length)
Nick Schade -- 8/14/1998, 2:27 pm
Re: paddle sizing (shaft length)
Mark Kanzler -- 8/14/1998, 3:15 pm
Re: paddle sizing (shaft length)
Al Bratton -- 8/12/1998, 8:02 am
divergent threads
Paul Stomski -- 8/12/1998, 3:14 pm
Re: divergent threads
Mark Kanzler -- 8/12/1998, 5:14 pm
Re: divergent threads
Scotty -- 8/12/1998, 9:20 pm
ELECTRONIC FRONT PORCH
Scotty -- 8/12/1998, 9:33 pm
original question - from the person that wrote it
Brian C. -- 8/12/1998, 2:09 pm
Re: original question & divergent links
Timothy - Toronto, Ontario -- 8/12/1998, 4:38 pm
They changed the stroking technique that much!!
Brian C. -- 8/12/1998, 6:59 pm
Re: They changed the stroking technique that much!!
Bram -- 8/15/1998, 8:21 pm
That was not me - I never get personal
Brian C. -- 8/12/1998, 4:53 pm
Re: That was not me - I never get personal
Timothy - Toronto, Ontario -- 8/13/1998, 8:40 am
Re: That was not me - I never get personal
Timothy - Toronto, Ontario -- 8/13/1998, 8:36 am
Re: That was not me - I never get personal
Mark Kanzler -- 8/13/1998, 10:29 am
Re: That was not me - I never get personal
Timothy - Toronto, Ontario -- 8/13/1998, 11:16 am
Re: The Roll
Mark Kanzler -- 8/14/1998, 12:58 am
Re: paddle sizing (shaft length)
Mark Kanzler -- 8/12/1998, 10:38 am
Re: paddle sizing (shaft length)
Timothy - Toronto, Ontario -- 8/12/1998, 1:50 pm
Re: paddle sizing (shaft length)
Al Bratton -- 8/12/1998, 7:55 am
Re: paddle sizing (shaft length)
Bram -- 8/15/1998, 8:28 pm
Re: Solarplexes
Mike Spence -- 8/11/1998, 10:33 pm
Re: Solarplexes
Mark Kanzler -- 8/12/1998, 10:32 am
Re: Solarplexes
Mike Spence -- 8/12/1998, 10:53 am
Re: Solarplexes
Mark Kanzler -- 8/13/1998, 12:45 am
Re: paddle sizing (shaft length)
Martin Foil -- 8/11/1998, 4:54 pm
Re: paddle sizing (shaft length)
Mark Kanzler -- 8/11/1998, 4:01 pm
Re: 22in dead on
Mark Kanzler -- 8/11/1998, 10:53 am
Re: Paddle choice for CLC Patuxent 19.5
Martin Foil -- 8/10/1998, 4:17 pm