One year in and I thinking of upgrading my original Naish 8" adjustable / glass? carbon paddle to something a bit lighter and dedicated to surf because thats all I do so no need to worry about long distance stuff.

Now i see that Starboard do a range of wave paddles but whats the real difference and what size would you recommend for 85 kg on a 9 ft wave board, is it bigger the better to ensure max power into a wave

help

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Rossall said...

One year in and I thinking of upgrading my original Naish 8" adjustable / glass? carbon paddle to something a bit lighter and dedicated to surf because thats all I do so no need to worry about long distance stuff.

Now i see that Starboard do a range of wave paddles but whats the real difference and what size would you recommend for 85 kg on a 9 ft wave board, is it bigger the better to ensure max power into a wave

help

IMO a bigger blade is more likely to pull you off balance before getting you onto the wave.. You can't go wrong sticking with something around the 8" width blade..

I even prefer a slightly smaller blade for surf use.. Pretty sure Casso and a few others here do the same.

DJ

Cheers Dave, not too much info knocking about on blade size, thanks

A bigger blade will enable you to take off in one or 2 paddle strokes, in late take offs "a la shortboard". It is great for short (sub-8') boards.
A smaller blade is OK to take off " la la longboard", by gliding early in the wave. So I guess this is the best solution for a 8'+ board. Plus a smaller blade is lighter

One the wave, a bigger blade gives more leverage in turns, but it can give more drag.