Best Paddle for Your Stand Up Paddle Board,(SUP)

The paddle together with your muscle and technique provides the engine that drives your SUP Board through the water.

Paddle Blade

Starboard have put tremendous energy and thousands of hours of trial and modifications into their latest range of paddle shapes. The shape of the Blade, the surface area of the Blade, the angle of water penetration and the release at the end of the stroke are all factors at work below the surface.

Paddle Shaft

The Shaft should be light and have a slight amount of flex to protect your tendons and muscle fibres from sudden jolts. The slight flex can also add power to a stroke by adding a slight "flick" of stored energy. Avoid Alloy Shafts as they tend to bend and break. Adjustable Paddles with Alloy shafts should especially be avoided as they corrode, seize up and then bend and break. These are sometimes offered as part of a "cheap" SUP package from less scrupulous outlets.

Paddle Handle "T-piece"

The bulk of the power comes through your upper arm and therefore through the T-piece handle down and forward as your bottom arm acts as the fulcrum or hinge point as you "lever" your way forward. A comfortable T-piece that you can wrap your hand around is essential. Starboard T-pieces have a slight angle built in to ensure your wrist is not bent forward or backwards during the power phase of the stroke. Make sure your T-piece is fixed solid and can not rotate. The T-piece of the SUP paddle should be in-line with the blade so that you always know how much resistance the blade will have in the water before you apply force.

Blade Size

Bigger blades, (blades with more surface area), require more force to drive them through the water and they produce more power. They are like the low gear on a bicycle, great for producing quick acceleration if you are strong and fit but very draining over longer distances. Consider how long you will be paddling for, how far, and what style eg. distance or short sprints. Also shorter boards as used on waves work better with smaller blades as you will put in several fast strokes to correct your angle as you catch and drop down a wave. Longer Boards are better at tracking in a straight line and will work better with larger Blades if you like the extra power per stroke.

For building muscle - bigger blade, shorter sessions with sprints - WARM UP and stretch slowly before and after.

For building fitness or burning fat - smaller blade and longer sessions

Blade shape

Considering that Humans were paddling the oceans for centuries before sail power, and even before that, navigating rivers and lakes in hollowed out logs and bunches of tied up reeds. The evolution of the Paddle goes back a long way. Now with SUP becoming a billion dollar industry - developers are combining old ideas and new technologies in a race to bring the ultimate paddle to the market. This is a huge subject as you can imagine so I will say for now that  - We have tried many shapes over the last 4 years and have found our favourite so far to be the "Enduro" shape from Starboard, which is basically an elongated "Wave" Paddle. Of course Carbon is the best overall. But if you cant afford that right now, the Nylon Tuffskin with Fibreglass Shafts are still very good.

Best Materials for SUP Paddles

For Resorts, Schools and Rental Businesses, the Tuffskin Blade with Fibreglass Shaft represents the most sensible value and durability.

For Individuals who use their Paddle-board every week. Then a nice Carbon Paddle makes sense. Or a Fibreglass Blade on a Fibreglass Shaft.

Beware of cheap Carbon Paddles - especially when offered as part of packages with heavy old style boards. A cheap Carbon Paddle is not light, breaks easily has an "un-evolved shape with in-effective edge protection. You will be better off with a modern Fiberglass paddle until you are ready to buy a top shelf Carbon Paddle.

The least expensive option is the Nylon Blade with an Alloy Shaft. These work Ok but need to be treated more carefully as the Alloy Shafts can be bent if too much pressure is put on them.

Enduro Fiber/Tufskin SUP Paddle - Nylon ABS Blade with Fiberglass Shaft

Blade Length: 44.5 cm
Blade Width: 20.5 cm
Area: 525 cm²
Shaft flex: FMS TBA
Length: 225 cm 

The all new Fiber/Tufskin paddle comes with a new nicely foiled strong ABS blade based on the Enduro 525cm2. 

Built relatively light but strong, the shaft's forgiving nature in combination with the cutting edge paddle shape, i s positioned as an exceptional good value paddle.

Adjustable Enduro SUP Paddle - Fiberglass Blade with Adjustable Carbon Shaft

Learn about Stand Up Paddle Board - SUP Paddle Technique

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