Comments on: Paddle Handling

By: marleina (willis) sirkin

marleina (willis) sirkin — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:15:35 +0000

Growing up on Waikiki beach has been heaven. I really don’t remember the day standup paddle board left us, but I’m glad it’s back. Besides the Achoy’s whom I have to say uncle leroy taught me to surf standing, I just want to say I’m so glad that my friend Eric Hass kept it alive. thank you for you tips. I needed some remembrace on the art of surfing. I couldn’t go on falling (lol)……

By: rob prosky

rob prosky — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 18:34:23 +0000

hi bill-
i will finally be receiving my pohaku paddle this coming wednesday and i’m excited to try SUP for real. i live right near the beach in Rincon PR and it’s a perfect spot to surf and practice most any water sport. i have spent 3 winters in hawaii and loved maui the best “maui no ka oi?” (sp?). i’m 46 and longboard an 11 ft 2″ heavy, high performance board daily and paddle 7.5 miles at least 3x a week on a tandem board that is 12 ft x only 25.5″ wide. i hope it works ok for me. i liked your comment about not cutting the paddle too short. i think i’ll take out the new paddle without cutting it first just to see how it feels long. i’ve read and heard that the magic number is 6-11 inches above your height but i want to eventually get into some bigger surf too. first let me get a feel for it this week! i’m 5′10″ and weight about 220 lbs. very wide shoulders (approx. size 56 jacket). anyway, i discovered your site and really enjoy your stories. very helpful.

thanks, tikirob
in rincon, pr

By: wsurfn

wsurfn — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 12:32:08 +0000

Which wooden paddles have you tried?

Do you think all wooden paddles would feel the same?

By: billb

billb — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 06:34:28 +0000

I got an email from a reader asking what paddle I like best. What’s wrong with leaving comments guys? the system emails me to let me know you’ve left one, and everyone can see the question.

Anyway, I’ve only tried a few. So far my favorite is a quickblade. It feels light but very strong and the shaft is just right for my hands (which are not particularly big given that the rest of me is fairly huge).

The quickblade shaft has a little flex under very hard paddling, and that feels good. The T on top of the shaft is offset forward and has a really good feel. You can tell without looking at the blade if you have the paddle backwards,

I also have a Pohaku Beach boy Paddle. It’s very good, and I’d probably like it more except that I cut it one shaka above my height, which is about six inches. Not enough. My quickblade is 11 inches above my height and that feels good to me.

I’ve also tried wooden paddles. Both of the ones I tried felt terrible. Heavy and dead. They were pretty though. And I tried a homebrew job with an aluminum shaft epoxied to a carbon fibre canoe paddle blade. Mmmm. No thanks.