How short do you go on your surfing paddle ? I was blown away at how short some paddles were at last years Aussie titles and Merimbula.Forget the 6 to 8'' overhead it's around nose to chin height with the top riders.
plus the head size on the paddle was really small. It's all about switching sides and not changing your hands.
Keahi is the master at it but so were plenty of other riders. It speeds up your direction change and your body follows suit.The longer the shaft on your paddle it forces you to switch hands through the turn , keep it short and you can bring it over the deck without the change.
Fat old bastard 5 inches over. Never change side as I would put my back out.
Good luck to the new gen I think they will push it a bit further than me :)
Ditto the fat old bastard
My paddle has been eight inches over, great paddle, light as and bomb proof...but. Last couple of months have been suffering from some shoulder pain and recurrent tendonitis in the elbow, time for a change. Have just cut, glued and taped up my newie and have gone for two inches over, plus way more flex in the shaft. Faaark it looks small sitting next to the oldie!!
Stay tuned
Cheers
Sparx
Shane, Shane, Shane!
Another one just for you, only this time I think they managed to match your personality to the music perfectly!! Note the topical use of the short paddle!
Cheers
Sparx
Piros in the picture the paddle doesn't look that short it may just be the angle but it looks well overhead and besides I thought you guys were with JP now
That's an old Shot (Noosa 2010) JP took over Cabrina , it's the only photo I had of the paddle being switched over without changing hands. The paddle is short just hard to judge by the pic. I've been trying to bring mine down overtime inch at a time I'm just over my head now , takes a bit to get used to.
It's very hard to bring your paddle over without changing hands if it's long , try it . You end up smashing the paddle head into the deck of the board. My board now has scuff marks running across the deck 
I still need to go a bit shorter.
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Dude in the photo looks like he is trying to imitate a sweep in a surf boat. To shy to have his Speedos up his bottom?
ho hum
My last paddle was head high, great for surfing but too much on lower back after a decent surf.
2-3 inch over now and all good
Beware of the too short paddle for anyone over 25 
I am 183cm tall and use a paddle 193cm long, could probably go a little shorter without any issues
Also I am 40 so even the oldies can use short paddles ....
Can someone give surfershanea a bit of love. The poor guys got his "man bitch" pants on! Lets all tell him how much of a brave little sailer he is. Or even better, how much he rips, just like the old days when there weren't any crowds.
JP took over Cabrinha? I think you mean that they are both part of the Pryde Group and that the JP shapes are pretty close to the previous years Cabrinhas.
Head high for me, even a few inches shorter has made a big difference in transitions.
It all depends on how short is your board. The shorter, the more flexed you need you knees for the take off, so the shorter you are, and the shorter must be your paddle.
It also depends on the volume of your board, as less volume means a lower position of your body relative to water. So less volume, shorter paddle.
Aus301 are you suggesting that the shapes from this years JP range are just an evolution of the previous year? Far closer to an evolution of the Cabrinha range down to the volumes I would suggest. Not being a JP fanboy I'm not overly precious about the brand. For the record didn't Pryde also buy another SUP brand last year?
Cut my surf paddle down a little while back to head high,it used to be the standard 8 inches over head. It took a little while to get used too but, now i find my downwind paddle at 12 inches over, just crazy long when I used it in the surf after grabbing the wrong paddle due to my wife putting them in the wrong covers.When Kai lenny was in oz recently I had a chat about paddle length as I thought even his race paddle looked short,he thought every one except Connor Baxter were going much shorter than used to be the norm.For those interested, his surf paddle is head high or a bit below, and his race paddle is cut so when he is standing his arm is bent at right angle to the ground when his hand is on the handle or about 4-6 inches above his head.cheers.
Head highs the go in the surf,and small blade,great for transitions,hope it helps freaks.
Yeh I'm a head high kind'a guy,someone posted a vid of a couple of brazilian guys ripping it up a year or so ago and the first thing that caught my eye was the length of their paddles,short to say the least but they looked exactly right for the job.Also about the bending knees and soforth Dave Kalama has an instructional vid in which he describes how if you bend your knees and thrust your hips you'll gain more distance from each stroke.I try this sometimes usually as I go over a swell/chop I try to get as much momentum up as I can before I hit the next one,it seems to work.
around 50 mil over now , but really imho anyone can cope with mild adjusted lengths if needed, just depends what you are used to.
