Look at instagram kdmaui and find picture of him looking like he has a shovel for digging. There is a video of him flat water starting and getting up in about 6 strokes! Pretty cool. He must have made it because it’s HUGE.
I’ve found I prefer wider paddles with the new easier driven boards. On my 6’ board the show shovel isn’t really any better than a normal sup paddle, on a barracuda the difference is night and day.
My favorite paddle available right now is probably the Blackproject HydroSprint-X in the largest size. The Ono Ava is also exceptional but I find it has too much blade angle.
If you have a long board is look for paddles over 20cm wide.
Along with the ones listed here the “QB stinger” and “Braca uni super fat” look great.
My personal paddle is 30cm wide. I’m slowly taking off length to make a “higher aspect” surface for a more efficient stroke.
Thanks Kane for sharing your experience.
I have tried my shovel yesterday on my 6’0x26" it wasn’t day and night compared to a normal SUP Paddle. Couldn’t get up on foil on flat water.
Let’s see what it does when my 8’0 barracuda arrives.
I remember that on a podcast show they were talking about the Ono Ava and it’s angle. Dave (or was it Jeremy?) mentioned that the angle is key, because you kind of lift your bodyweight out of the water.
Interesting that you now say you like the HydroSprint-X because of its low angle.
I think of paddles as wings that generate forward thrust. A paddle stroke has a downwards and backwards component, which along with the speed of the board creates an angle of attack on the blade.
I see the big blades working not by creating more force, just more useful force. This means the goal is create the most thrust for a given load on the body. To do this we need to maximize L/D. I have found most of my paddle energy is spent in the initial acceleration or first few strokes. Because the board isn’t moving fast there is a high angle of attack on the blade, pushing it out of its efficient range. Lowering the angle decreases this angle, increasing the efficiency.
The hydro sprint x has decent width, a nice airfoil, efficient outline, stable cross section, light weight, and low angle. I found this paddle to be very efficient. I think even lower angle with a wider blade could improve on this.
Using Hydro Sprint-X from Black project.
I’m light weight so using the Medium blade, maybe I think I could do with the Large but in my experience from sup racing cadence and not hurting the shoulder it’s preferable for my body.
As Kane mentions, the angle of the blade it’s very efficient, you can see it with it’s clean entries when hitting the water.
Don’t let it fool you with the balance of effort required vs power generated, that’s the good thing about it.
Hi Kane.
Thanks for the input. Smaller angle sounds logical to me, you should have way more pulling force with extended arms than close to your body where a bigger angle would come into play.
Also not sure about the efficiency of putting weight onto the blade instead of just unweighting more with your legs?
Granted, i am just at the start of my dwnwnd sup journey, so might be utterly wrong.
What would you revommend as blade size and shaft length with the sprint padfle? Am 182cm, 73kg, decent windfoiler on smaller boards and progression170, mediocre pumper…limited sup experience, have just learnt to paddle onto small windswell onshore unbroken waves far out to the breaking inside within a couple of sessions on an 170l isup. will get an afs blackbird 6’2 /90l this week. small, i know, but can get it cheap/used and will use for winging as well. Waves /bumps will be lake and mediterranean windswell. have handpaddles just in case.
Also , what kd tail tail would you use with the spg glide 220? just got mine, am yet to try.
Cheers, Andi
Hello @andiabel …
Not Kane here jaja! not as knowleageble as the master, but I ride also a BlackBird 6’2" 90L with a Sprint-X and I’m 68Kg. I ride with the Medium blade and it’s enough for me. The sprint-X it’s a Hydro-X but wider, the concept here is for sup racing (no foil) the Hydro-X it’s a highly efficient paddle for long races that won’t burn your shoulders and the Sprint takes that and adds some width so you can paddle harder for shorter distances at max speed. This taken for sup foil take off, it’s pretty nice since you can feel lots of more power without taking a tall on your shoulders. As you start downwinding, you’ll have to try many times and you’ll fall a lot, so a not so big paddle could mean you’ll also won’t hurt yourself with so many take offs tries. Hope this makes sense and I expressed myself correctly.
I started with a Cloud IX 1150 (which is like a Progression in terms of low end grunt with excellent glide) which is a 178 sq in. paired with the FS-227 for maximum lift and low end, and with the FS-197 for better glide and when started to go faster and more efficiently in my bumps connecting skills. This setup gave me the hold and low end to learn to connect better the bumps.
I migrated to the new AFS 1100HA with 165HA stab and now I have lots of more glide and top end speed, and hoping to get some big conditions for testing the 800HA/135HA.
Here’s a photo on the difference between the Hydro X and the Sprint X.
Muchas gracias OmarFoilCol!
Saw your videos and was actually thinking of asking you directly as well;)…
Similar to what Kane said, i read a comment in some other thread here by one of the Tardrews saying for the not so skinny smaller boards not too big a blade was actually better, as you need some cadence to keep it at speed…i reckon this should apply to us with the blackbirds too…even more so me as i have 5kgs more than you. Have you tried a longer skinnier board? Looking at paddle sizes in general though, most other brands tend to be a bit bigger than the sprint x, so i reckon a size L should be a good compromise? What length are you using? Those few times i went with the isup in waves i used a cheap alu/plastic paddle (no idea what size, going to a shop later to compare) experimenting a bit with different lengths but kept going back to about headhigh or slightly above/182-184cm…
Yeah foilwise i reckon the progression 170 should be great once i figure out dwnwinding a bit more, for me it works great in winging even in the light winds…but as a cheat code to improve faster i just got the signature glide 220…on a sidenote, if you drill the outer two mast connection holes and countersinks to M8 they are compatible with Unifoil-masts… backwards works as well using special countersunk washers you can get from sabfoil…
@andiabel Can you talk a bit more about the comparability of Signature and the Katana Uni mast? Do you have any photos to share about what you described?
I thought this thread was about paddles. Maybe create a new topic for the uni/SPG masts so people can find it in the future?
I picked up a QB Stingray paddle to replace a standard adjustable SUP paddle (that filled with water). Super light and has great power for its size. Also ridiculously expensive.
So i just pulled the trigger on a Sprint X in L. Black project has special deals in their online shop where they sell demo or slightly used for quite a bit less. Together with another -40 usd from registering, and only +50 for shipping this turned out to be the cheapest option for a topoftheline paddle as you cannot really get them in Switzerland.
Still pondering if an XL (wasn’t available) or an QB Ono Ava would have been better but even Casey mentioned in his M2O wrapup with Oskar and Edo that with smaller, less glidey lower volume boards smaller blades work better.
We’ll see, seems i need to try to find out myself what works for me haha…
I got my AFS Blackbird 6’2 yesterday. Feels rather small but i think i’ll get there. Tried to go winging but the wind died, then paddled around for a couple of minutes. Probably hard to learn flatwater starts but seems ok with the push of a wave. The difference in roll stability to a normal rail board is interesting, it rolls a lot easier, you feel the mast and foil dampening it, but not pushing it back into normal position like a more square rail would.
Cool @andiabel !!
I don’t think you need to worry yet to go bigger paddle, I don’t even consider it, there’s a point were a bigger paddle it’s just more inefficient, you’ll just need more muscles and run into chances of getting hurt. Better to go for efficiency thru proper sizing and good technique!!
Yeah, the Blackbird thanks to it’s diamond tail top and pin tail bottom makes it very stable from my perspective! Enjoy it!!
