Searched the topics and couldn't find anything so thought I would throw it out there guys.

Paddle length - I get that it would be shorter for surfing as you need to get low and prob a bit higher for cruising but what is the latest advice on this for each discipline as far as a ratio of length?

I have an adjustable paddle so when I am surfing and decide to cruise around I just make it a bit longer but don't really know what sort of length I should be putting it to?

I'm not sure if the brands have updated their recommendations.
I use it equal or an inch smaller than my height for surfing.

My experience is: you go small and it will punish your lower back. You go big and your shoulders might complain.

I find head height length is spot on .

BUT .....

if I'm on anything bigger than a 130 litre board ,it changes ...

The beauty with an adjustable paddle is that you can keep changing length until you find what's right for you. Just keep experimenting, but for anything more than a surf SUP start with the paddle next to you and with the blade on the floor, the top of the handle should be somewhere near your watch strap.

Just keep experimenting from there...

if you go short and your back is hurting you are not doing it right.
You need to bend knees and get low, drive thru the hips and legs with back straight.

It depends what board you ride, litrage, how you stand and HOW you want to ride.
you wanna cruise, go head plus say 2-4 inches. you go down in volume you go down in length as you are in the water more.
as you go down in volume you got to get ur COG down so you bend knees more and get lower, hell sometimes my rear knee is nearly on the deck when paddling into a wave. look at some of Colas older vids and watch and read the vids on paddlewoo.
Other thing is when you are on decent waves and start throwing it around, then trying paddle swaps on your toeside etc a shorter length really makes a difference.
I ride bout mid forehead. works for me. some guys go down to eyebrow, some round head or just over.

Seeing we are in full summer flatline already in Perth good time to practice technique. mess round with length, concentrate on technique.
I feel like i am drying out. might have to start some flat water drills to keep the hair down in the morning... depressing

paddle paddle paddle is the call from me to Kaylan in the surf ..ive cut her paddle down three times in three years, my reasoning is there job is to catch the wave ,once on the wave subtle use only ,with Kaylans ability and connection with the ocean maturing we found the boards all good but the paddle sticking in spots .,cutting her paddle solved most of those spots,,the next cut was too try and shorten. the blades position along the board for a tube friendly spot to actually get the paddle out of the way ,.things I've learnt along the way regarding paddles is, the hot glue method works in cooler climates, no matter how ,the carbon paddles heat up so quick in the tropics ,the glue gives way and a twisting handle in great waves isn't fun ,so epoxy that end ,and please cut from the blade end only, have been thinking of getting Chris Garrett to slot a grove in Kays next board a paddle slot that binds the paddle into the deck ,make it a whole lot easier for getting out when is lay down and paddle paddle paddle

It also depends on your style of paddling. I only paddle raceboards. I am in between two styles, bend in the knees and hip, but not too much. So I am an 'inbetweener'. There are paddlers who are bending their knees and hips much more than me and they go about two inches shorter as me: this style demands a lot more energy which you get back in more speed if you paddle also with much (body) rotation. So with an adjustable you can search for your length.

I took the paddle length scale from quick blade as a good start to begin with:www.quickbladepaddles.com/SUP-paddle-sizes/

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CAUTION said..
if you go short and your back is hurting you are not doing it right.
You need to bend knees and get low, drive thru the hips and legs with back straight.

It depends what board you ride, litrage, how you stand and HOW you want to ride.
you wanna cruise, go head plus say 2-4 inches. you go down in volume you go down in length as you are in the water more.
as you go down in volume you got to get ur COG down so you bend knees more and get lower, hell sometimes my rear knee is nearly on the deck when paddling into a wave. look at some of Colas older vids and watch and read the vids on paddlewoo.
Other thing is when you are on decent waves and start throwing it around, then trying paddle swaps on your toeside etc a shorter length really makes a difference.
I ride bout mid forehead. works for me. some guys go down to eyebrow, some round head or just over.

Seeing we are in full summer flatline already in Perth good time to practice technique. mess round with length, concentrate on technique.
I feel like i am drying out. might have to start some flat water drills to keep the hair down in the morning... depressing

Good advice Caution

Yeah I think I may need to practice a bit more and get into some good habits, when paddling for a wave the stoke takes over and the thought of form goes out the window!

I do try and remember to bend my knees though, that is the one thing I feel I remember.

I hear ya about the swell flatness, up until recently there had been fun beach banks that were good on tiny swells but even they have gone. Its not a bad paddle up and down the marion stretch of coast with no swell though, gives a different perspective when it is nice and clear. Also realise how sketchy the reef is in some parts

Ill keep trying to form the good habits and testing different lengths.

I am 5'11, 85kg's and ride a Atlantis 10ft Carbon Vex.

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CAUTION said..


Seeing we are in full summer flatline already in Perth good time to practice technique. mess round with length, concentrate on technique.
I feel like i am drying out. might have to start some flat water drills to keep the hair down in the morning... depressing

You need to go for a downwinder old mate. Best use of Perth summer conditions.
Will need a longer paddle!

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Tardy said..
I find head height length is spot on .

BUT .....

if I'm on anything bigger than a 130 litre board ,it changes ...

I'm with Tardy on this. Head high for surfing on boards up to 130-135 litres. Over that more length is needed. That said, its subjective to whats comfortable to the individual. I know some guys surf with paddles at eye hight or less. I tried this and didn't like it at all.

For me, head high is a good all-around value.

In my experience, the length of the paddle is more related to the hollowness of the wave than its size: In hollow waves, you are going to do late takeoffs in a very crouched stance (no way to survive the drop otherwise) and a shorter paddle will help. Plus in tubing conditions, the less paddle to fit under the lip the better.

But in fatter, flatter faces, you can get away with longer paddles. This said, once you are used to head high paddles, longer feels awkward, they add more row effect, and are more stressful on the shoulders.

Tried few different lengths this morning when I was going for a paddle (no swell)

Made it a bit longer than normal and it felt like it clicked a lot more with the stroke, will see how that length works in the surf, tried it with a sprint paddle as I would going for a wave and it felt ok.

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CAUTION said..
if you go short and your back is hurting you are not doing it right.
You need to bend knees and get low, drive thru the hips and legs with back straight.

It depends what board you ride, litrage, how you stand and HOW you want to ride.
you wanna cruise, go head plus say 2-4 inches. you go down in volume you go down in length as you are in the water more.
as you go down in volume you got to get ur COG down so you bend knees more and get lower, hell sometimes my rear knee is nearly on the deck when paddling into a wave. look at some of Colas older vids and watch and read the vids on paddlewoo.
Other thing is when you are on decent waves and start throwing it around, then trying paddle swaps on your toeside etc a shorter length really makes a difference.
I ride bout mid forehead. works for me. some guys go down to eyebrow, some round head or just over.

Seeing we are in full summer flatline already in Perth good time to practice technique. mess round with length, concentrate on technique.
I feel like i am drying out. might have to start some flat water drills to keep the hair down in the morning... depressing

My paddle length seems goodo but I'm totally stuck at the point of paddling into the wave and transition to surf stance...I just recently started suping - begginer in the waves with a sub 8 footer, iam just starting to catch waves after learning to stay bloody upright and mobile in the surf...I paddle around the surf with my feet kinda in a boxing position in the centre-ish of the board for stability all good, now iam launching myself into waves in that same position riding the wave like a downhill skier till I can sort my surf stance out...I see guys paddling into a wave in this surf stance not looking at the wave with back knee dropped it looks alot more efficient...any advice on that would be much appreciated

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quikdrawMcgraw said..

CAUTION said..
if you go short and your back is hurting you are not doing it right.
You need to bend knees and get low, drive thru the hips and legs with back straight.

It depends what board you ride, litrage, how you stand and HOW you want to ride.
you wanna cruise, go head plus say 2-4 inches. you go down in volume you go down in length as you are in the water more.
as you go down in volume you got to get ur COG down so you bend knees more and get lower, hell sometimes my rear knee is nearly on the deck when paddling into a wave. look at some of Colas older vids and watch and read the vids on paddlewoo.
Other thing is when you are on decent waves and start throwing it around, then trying paddle swaps on your toeside etc a shorter length really makes a difference.
I ride bout mid forehead. works for me. some guys go down to eyebrow, some round head or just over.

Seeing we are in full summer flatline already in Perth good time to practice technique. mess round with length, concentrate on technique.
I feel like i am drying out. might have to start some flat water drills to keep the hair down in the morning... depressing

My paddle length seems goodo but I'm totally stuck at the point of paddling into the wave and transition to surf stance...I just recently started suping - begginer in the waves with a sub 8 footer, iam just starting to catch waves after learning to stay bloody upright and mobile in the surf...I paddle around the surf with my feet kinda in a boxing position in the centre-ish of the board for stability all good, now iam launching myself into waves in that same position riding the wave like a downhill skier till I can sort my surf stance out...I see guys paddling into a wave in this surf stance not looking at the wave with back knee dropped it looks alot more efficient...any advice on that would be much appreciated

I have always paddled in standing square on the board bent knees and leaning forward.... just felt right when I started and as you feel the wave take the board, drop the left foot back (Goofy)... in the early days it was a bit of a hop but now days (I think) the movement is quite fluid and I hardly register the movement. The only time I take up a surf stance to paddle in is when the take off is real late.

For paddle length, I have started to go shorter at around forehead level and I find the paddle is a bit less cumbersome on the wave. You do have to focus on bending the knees to fully engage the paddle blade though...

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quikdrawMcgraw said..

CAUTION said..
if you go short and your back is hurting you are not doing it right.
You need to bend knees and get low, drive thru the hips and legs with back straight.

It depends what board you ride, litrage, how you stand and HOW you want to ride.
you wanna cruise, go head plus say 2-4 inches. you go down in volume you go down in length as you are in the water more.
as you go down in volume you got to get ur COG down so you bend knees more and get lower, hell sometimes my rear knee is nearly on the deck when paddling into a wave. look at some of Colas older vids and watch and read the vids on paddlewoo.
Other thing is when you are on decent waves and start throwing it around, then trying paddle swaps on your toeside etc a shorter length really makes a difference.
I ride bout mid forehead. works for me. some guys go down to eyebrow, some round head or just over.

Seeing we are in full summer flatline already in Perth good time to practice technique. mess round with length, concentrate on technique.
I feel like i am drying out. might have to start some flat water drills to keep the hair down in the morning... depressing

My paddle length seems goodo but I'm totally stuck at the point of paddling into the wave and transition to surf stance...I just recently started suping - begginer in the waves with a sub 8 footer, iam just starting to catch waves after learning to stay bloody upright and mobile in the surf...I paddle around the surf with my feet kinda in a boxing position in the centre-ish of the board for stability all good, now iam launching myself into waves in that same position riding the wave like a downhill skier till I can sort my surf stance out...I see guys paddling into a wave in this surf stance not looking at the wave with back knee dropped it looks alot more efficient...any advice on that would be much appreciated

paralel stance is ok for larger boards, bt go smaller and you will be more efficient as less moving time.
try not to jump, got to flow.
MY way, not saying its right but works for me. based very much on Paddlewoo Eric's tips:
paddle around i have front foot paralel with stringer, round handle, rear foot just behind front with heel on stringer to 5cm accross and pointing at 45 degrees. toes are about in line with front foot heel.
When ready to go for a wave you are pointing nose at the wave, i move my front foot slightly forward and onto stringer just in front of handle. Rear i move back only slightly, still at 45 degrees and either on stringer or more towards toe side of rail. This is what is known as semi-surf stance. Sounds like this is what you want to get right, get a little more spread out for balance, not too wide. Bend knees and at hips and get low.

i paddle between 3-8 strokes depending on wave then once on i go front foot slide back then rear foot slide back. if its slowish rear foot is at front of kick pad for bottom turn then top turn move it back to the kicker, if its a decent punchy wave straight back to tail kick and leave it there.
You jump ur feet and u slow down, you see it clearly when you see guys learning.
Look i remember this as one of the hardest things to learn with sup surfing. once ur getting the feet down then there is learnign to turn the board and "paddle assistance" to enhance ur surfing.
hope that helps.

for practicing balance, getting low etc:
- squats
- balancing on one leg, reach down ant touch ankle then upright and clap
- indo board (or in my case piece of ply from bunnings and a foam roller) can really practice the drop knee stance
- lunges

Yeah thank you cool bananas sup in the surf is pretty hard, I ride 20 kms every o th er day and my legs are more saw after a sup in the surf but realy enjoying it especially nice glassy morning makes it so much easier,

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quikdrawMcgraw said..
stuck at the point of paddling into the wave and transition to surf stance...

When paddling into the waves, you should be neither in parallel stance (it isn't stable enough, people paddling in parrallel stance do not fully use the paddle because they are distracted by keeping their balance), nor surfing stance (totally unstable, and not efficient for paddling), but in an hybrid stance, a fencing or staggered stance: starting from the parralel stance, just move your back foot a bit backwards.

Recently started using the hybrid stance Colas, works well.

Best of both worlds I reckon.

I ate shyt alot this morning, waves look steeper standing up or something, plus im on a 7'5" fish shape board so a couple paddles and I need to change stroke to straiten it up - I find im having to change stroke right before I get momentum from the wave, then the thickness of the rails suprise me...haha made a few and had heaps of fun back ate shyr many times

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quikdrawMcgraw said..
I ate shyt alot this morning, waves look steeper standing up or something, plus im on a 7'5" fish shape board so a couple paddles and I need to change stroke to straiten it up - I find im having to change stroke right before I get momentum from the wave, then the thickness of the rails suprise me...haha made a few and had heaps of fun back ate shyr many times

never change stroke when paddling onto wave. well try to never. it totally screws ur momentum and stalls you and ur board speed.
means you are getting excited and paddling too early for wave. slow down and wait for it, or paddle out toward it then hook.
classic rookie mistake. Just ask Dave and Marco...

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CAUTION said..

quikdrawMcgraw said..
I ate shyt alot this morning, waves look steeper standing up or something, plus im on a 7'5" fish shape board so a couple paddles and I need to change stroke to straiten it up - I find im having to change stroke right before I get momentum from the wave, then the thickness of the rails suprise me...haha made a few and had heaps of fun back ate shyr many times

never change stroke when paddling onto wave. well try to never. it totally screws ur momentum and stalls you and ur board speed.
means you are getting excited and paddling too early for wave. slow down and wait for it, or paddle out toward it then hook.
classic rookie mistake. Just ask Dave and Marco...

Spot on mate, once you get that little routine of knowing where to sit and how to approach it is a lot easier, trying to catch waves that you are not in the right position to is also something I have tried to let go.

Just get in position and line up the wave when it comes.

Ok ill give that a whirl thanks, dont change strokes while paddling into the wave, I kooked it quite alot this morning but felt I had a better feel for where to be positioned on the board for smoother transition kind of

This thread inspired me to take another inch off my paddle, I've been just slightly over head height and I'm now just slightly under.

Went for a surf this morning, very small and only a few fun little waves, gotta say I loved the new length.

Then in the arvo had a cruise on the river with family and the paddle felt terrible. No real surprises there. I could use this as an excuse for another paddle but then I'll just cut it short for surfing anyway

Get an adjustable length paddle or have (at least) two paddles. My surf paddle is about head high, my downwinding paddle is ~4" taller.

Quikcdraw, you could try to anticipate where you need to be on the wave, factoring in the curved path you'll take paddling on one side.
If it's a lefthander, point the nose a bit to the right, take 5-6 hard strokes to get up speed by which time you'll be heading left, in the right spot.

A 7' 5" is probable not the easiest thing to learn on!

Thanks for the advice, 7"5' not easy no but I wont get bored in a hurry!
In 1 month ive progressed from hardly staying upright to actively chasing waves(all beachbreak conditions)
Im on the water everyday again, feel a little froth about below average conditions, and am definitely a shade fitter loving it.