Choosing a Paddle
"The most important item in your SUP equipment;
The Paddle..! After all, this is a paddle sport and the paddle is so often overlooked as an after thought. The paddle is what drives you through the water, the engine, your direct connection to
convert your effort into performance. It would not be irrational to advise you to choose and buy a very good paddle fitted to you, and then see what you have left in the coffers to buy your board. Like a lot of SUP suppliers, at Blue Chip we offer a free standard paddle with most new boards just to help you get into the sport, but we advise you to up grade your paddle to a good carbon model fitted to your paddling style as soon as you can afford to do so. A good paddle fitted to match your paddling style and action should not be underestimated. The paddle and your paddle action is more important to your performance than the board."
Brian Johncey
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| First time paddle |
The Aluminium paddles with their
reinforced polycarbonate blade is a very good choice for a first
time paddle. However we recommended that once you have got the
basics of paddling sorted and you are starting to use the paddle
more efficiently, you should then conceder up-grading to a more
dynamic paddle.
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Blade size...
High or Low
Cadence..? |
Medium or small face, High or Low "cadence" Cadence
(pronounced
as "Kay-dense") is a description that can mean high or low
revolutions / high or low stroke rate. High cadence equates to a
fast stroke rate made easier with the use of a small blade area and
low cadence equates to a low stroke rate with a larger blade area.
Low cadence paddles with their
medium sized blades are ideal for general / crossover / cruising.
These offer easy cruising with minimum of effort. Most low cadence blades
are designed with a dihedral face to give good steady power
through the stroke.
High cadence paddles with
their smaller blades offer the ability for a higher stroke rate and
bursts of fast acceleration due to the lower energy required for
each stroke. Most high cadence paddles are designed with a flat
blade face as the stroke rate will be higher and more assertive.
However a slight dihedral on the face is often
preferred.
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"T" Bar |
 There are many designs for the "T"
Bar:
- Full carbon
- Ergonomic ABS
Palm-grip
- Reinforced Nylon
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| Shaft |
Shafts come in four main
materials:
- PVC encapsulated Aluminium
- Reinforced Glass Fibre
- Wood
- Carbon
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| Blade |
Blades come in 4 main materials:
- Reinforced polycarbonate
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Reinforced Glass Fibre
- Wood
- Carbon
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| Paddles |
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Aluminium paddles are usually made up of a PVC
encapsulated aluminium shaft married up to a
reinforced polycarbonate blade and these
paddles are ideal as a first time paddle. quite durable and the
Reinforced polycarbonate blade is probably the toughest blade
available.
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Glass Paddles are usually made up
of a
Reinforced Glass Fibre shaft with a
Reinforced Glass Fibre blade. These paddles are stiffer than the
Aluminium ones but not quite so durable.
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Wooden Paddles are usually made in
100% wood. they are quite light and rigid and look really good.
Their downside is their price and the blade edge durability.
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Carbon Paddles are generally seen
as the best material to make a paddle from. Very light and very
stiff.
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| Blade Face |
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 The
blade face is the contact area for the paddle with the water and
therefore very important. some blades have a "Dihedral" which
gives a slight raised area down through the centre of the blade
face (see image). This has the effect of splitting the water
into two separate sides of the blade and thus balance the blade
as it moves through the water and stops the paddle from
quivering or "leafing" as power is applied. The Dihedral is
very effective for general paddling and cruising.
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Flat faced blades are also
available and quite common with professional paddlers. in order
to get the best out of a flat blade, these need to be used with
a lot of power in order to reduce the leafing effect.
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| Kickback angle |
There is a kickback blade angel
on most SUP paddles, this helps position the blade correctly in the
water for blade entry, stroke and blade exit.
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| Blade Edge |
Carbon blades can make their
blade edges very fine (thin). this is great for racing in the sea
where you are not so likely to bring your paddle blade into contact
with other hard objects. Carbon paddles are great to use as it can
have rigidity built into the areas that need to be rigid and
flexibility when that is required, however carbon blades are not
good with abrasion and quickly get destroyed unless protected by an
abrasion resistant
Blade Runner
which eliminates the abrasion problem on the edges of carbon blades |
All of our SUP paddles will float at any finished length. The
paddles are suitable for stand up paddlers of any height with the paddle maximum
length of 220cm. All paddles can be supplied without the handle fitted: the
shaft can therefore be cut down to the right length before the handle is
inserted and glued to the shaft tip. The most important factors in choosing the
length for your paddle are your height and the type of paddling you'll be doing.
Use the selector below to help find your ideal paddle length for standup paddle
surfing. This is a guide only: personal preference is also an important factor.
We can also supply all paddles cut to the correct length with the handles
fitted.
NOTE: if you do not specify a paddle length in your order, we
will supply your paddle un-cut for you trim to length and fix the T-bar handle
yourself.
Blade Runner is the next generation of paddle blade protector and manufactured with
an integral 3M™ very powerful pressure sensitive adhesive on the inside, so no need to mess about with blobs of super glue.
Carbon Paddles are great and I
use them myself, Carbon paddles are strong, stiff and light but
NOT very abrasion resistant, that's where Blade
Runner comes into play: Blade Runner is made from pliable and abrasion resistant
PVC and fits paddle blade edges ranging from
1mm to 4mm. Blade Runner makes a firm bond along its entire length. Fit it and
forget it..!
See the review and illustrated fitting guide from
www.supglobal.com
Features:
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Will fit carbon, wooden and composite SUP paddles
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 Firm
bond over the entire blade edge
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Abrasion resistant, tough and pliable
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Tough urethane tape protects neck of paddle
Latest generation of blade protection
Will fit blade edge thicknesses of
1-4mm (composite blades)
Developed and tested on UK
rivers, lakes and coast. locations
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Blade Runner |
£15 |
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Enlarged
cross section
of the Blade Runner
Application instructions
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