Downwind hand paddle vs SUP paddle

Haha your idea is definitely beyond my construction capabilities. Maybe I’ll have another think about it when I finish shaping the downwind foilsupcat. But that really is for another thread.

Hoping this could work with hand paddles once all the wonky lines are straightened out.

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:joy: I just bought a battered old dinghy kite, will report back as to how it flies off the nose of a DW board (and stows…! Need to combine this with this)

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ha yeah i reckon if it’s windy enough for one of those paddle sails you could probably just prone paddle up. There’s been times here in Botany Bay where i’ve seen a steep bump so just paddled for it and got up. Rather than unclip the hand paddles and get in position. Being down low definitely gives you a good feel for the water. Even just spending some time kneeling while you paddle along with SUP paddle is useful for getting a good sense of the energy.

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Under what conditions do you feel hand paddles or sup no longer necessary?

I imagine optimal is 15kn wind for balance of pleasant conditions and nice bumps. Above that I would suppose it gets a bit intense, but doesn’t require much assistance, and below that it becomes much more effort to get going?

That 15 number chosen without experience, only from sailing/kiting as the start of small whitecaps. I saw Oskar getting going in light (12kn?) with the paddles, which seems pretty surprising given how mild that is

Probably more than 15kt but depends on other stuff. It’s more about how steep the bumps are, and not their size.

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Was there any stability challenges on the knees with that 6-6 by 20? Do you think you could have gone any narrower?

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Check out spinnaker socks used on 49ers, 29ers, and Musto performance skiffs. Sits on top of deck, light weight. Just need a sheet/block system for launching and bagging.

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Going from my 24" to 20" it felt a bit tippy at first but got used to it very fast. As in minutes. Being comfortable on 20", i don’t expect 18" or 19" would feel very different. But also not that critical to go narrower. As soon as you can bounce the board out of the water it’s not producing any drag :slight_smile:

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I gotta pair from 1994! Planning on trying them tomorrow too !

hey mate can you post some pics of the paddles you made? Any comments on how big they should be or best shapes etc?



I trialled different outlines and settled on this. it’s 85sqi which i think is plenty. For 100kg+ guys i’m sure they could manage larger pizza-shovel sized ones, but anyone lighter is probably gunna blow their shoulders. The shape moulded into them is pretty important too - i found that when they were flat they didn’t dive into the water well, and were a bit grabby at the release point.

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I’m wondering if a hand paddle that goes on the back of your hand could be feasible? My wrists won’t bend to 90° anymore due to a lifetime of abuse. Consequently my pop-ups are off my fingers and thumb, sort of like a fingertip push-up. These hand paddles indicate you need to use them flat on the board. A paddle that went on the back of your hand would still give you roughly the same area of paddle but allow you to still use the palm of your hand and thumb, maybe?

I’ve been thinking about this a bit, I used to make handpaddles similar to these when I was a kid: https://hub.jacksonkayak.com/2021/06/the-joy-of-hand-paddling-whitewater-kayaking/

You grip the cross bar in your hand and the lacing braces on your forearm. I think you could design it so that you would just let go of the bar and the paddles would dangle around your wrist for pop up.

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Radair, I definitely see scope for different styles of hand paddles. It’s so early so for sure things will progress and alter. I should say also though, that as you get good at controlling the foil/board in a kneeling position you get more and more time to make the transition- sometimes I don’t even push off my hands. And often I’m putting very little pressure on my hands - so pushing off the tips a bit while mostly popping up from knees is very doable.

J_L, very good find. I actually came at this from a paddle background and was looking at different ways kayak paddlers were doing it (for fun and as backup for broken paddles). I hadn’t seen this style though! Some kayakers were cutting up old plastic kayaks as they already had curve in them (I heat-mould it in). Nice one!

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the ones I used to make are a lot simpler, just cut out of some 1/4" plywood if I remember… they looked like this:

Where the blue hole is where you put your arm through and the red hole is where your fingers go to grip the bar between the holes. the right edge between the blue and black braces on the back of your forearm like a wrist rocket. they feel pretty powerful and you get a little extra length but I don’t know if there’s any performance advantage. I just rowed a tiny little inflatable raft around that I had when I was 10 or 11…

Wolverine style hand paddles? :slight_smile:

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Kayak paddles have a wing shape to increase the power delivered, and take advantage of the biomechanics of the natural sideways effort to increase the efficiency. I wonder if this would apply to the hand paddles.

These look cool, interesting that it would increase the power, I wonder if the shoulders could handle it.

https://www.paddlerguide.com/product/surfins-kayak-hand-paddles/

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I think it’s time to just put swimming fins on our feet and throw paddling out the window all together :joy:

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You joke, but look closely at his feet. Then click through his instagram, you’ll find more.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CVCGSHoFsis/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Fine one more. Just in case you think that was a Hood River fluke.

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CS__bGhjPbU/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

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