I go with all the charts and fit tables , but I still wonder. With seat heights and angle of the stroke / height of my hands.
I have a Werner paddle " kinda touring paddle " But with a high angle close to the boat say under 10", the whole paddle is submerged to the black paint where it meets the shaft. I get a bit of a bubble swirl under water off the upper tip of the blade. I am 6'6" ,22" width hull . 230 cm paddle , high - steep angle .
It seems fine ,no fatigue ,most charts end at 6'3" and over ( as in who cares ).
Sounds Like You have it right. The shaft end of the blade should be just at or under the surface of the water when you are paddling with your normal stroke.
At ONNO, our ‘interactive’ sizing chart is old fashioned… We use our ears and our brain… We actually listen and talk with you about your personal preferences, expectations and intended uses for real world, get it right the first time specific sizing. We will never try to confine you to some kind of chart.
Wondering if maybe you should go just a cm bigger or smaller to really get specific? One uncovered detail will usually tip the scale and lock in the right choice. Want to hear the how changes in feather angle feel and effect performance? Fire away.
While we are in no way saying we know better than you and would NEVER force our way someone. Often times folks just are not sure WHAT they should go for. Maybe considering something totally different that you have not tried out yet ? Or thinking you might have got the wrong size? Not sure what to base what you are thinking about on? Ask the chart???
We talk with lots of good folks everyday about this stuff and hear the feedback + we are out on the water WAY overthinking things to better our repertoire of advice and experience to relate to you… Call us for an opinion. In keeping with todays society, you always have someone to blame if it’s not right…ha ha. We tell every one who orders a paddle from us to let us know if its not right… and we will work it out… no worries.
More than happy to discuss any specific questions you might have… as always… no pressure ever … here to help.
Paddles (?) I paddle mostly with friends that are intermediate paddlers, and there’s a wide range of paddle designs, and prices, within our little group. Prices paid range from $39 to $280. I seem to be the cheapo, with my $39 Dick’s paddle, and a Aqua-Bound that came with one of my used kayaks.
The wife and I were paddling Lake James yesterday, crossing the lake to head up the Catawba River. She was in our Perception Monarch, I was in the Tsunami 145. The perception has always felt a tad bit faster to me (with the $39 paddle) but harder to keep on track unless the skeg was down. The wife has less paddletime than myself, and she was having trouble keeping up with me, while I thought I was really taking it easy. This was partly due to the wind, so she dropped the skeg, which helped, then we switched paddles. The paddle made the difference! I don’t know much about paddles, or paddle design, but the el-cheapo, (a Voyager by Carlisle) that got her going is rigid “plastic”, more “cupped” and larger blades than the other paddle (Seaclude by Aqua-Bound) which has a slightly smaller blade, and looks more streamlined with alot less “cup” but still rather stiff.
After seeing the difference that the paddle switch made…I’m inclined to research paddles a bit more, and maybe come down from the “cheap seats”
We paddle lakes and slow rivers, and assuming that boat type should also come into play when choosing a paddle, we have the Perception (15’), and a Necky Looksha (14’) which are very similar, and the Tsunami 145, which tracks better, but slightly more difficult to turn.
Is there a particular blade design that should be “best” for our needs. Length should be the same as we are roughly the same size, both of us have long arms, and the boats are 21"-23" wide.
Thanks Jack I’ll be back down sometime saturday. A friend is buying my Pungo 120 and we’ll be paddling up the North Fork of the Catawba a little ways so he can try it out.
