Many paddlers tape pads into their ski's buckets. A pad can help create a better angle and therefore more leverage at the catch, as well as provide comfort and/or a more snug fit which can increase boat control. Paddle2Fitness seat pads for efficiency. See also Padding in Equipment Adjustment (padding for fit and comfort)
(bottom fixed part is brace, top moving part for steering is pedal)
Distance to Pedals
Correct Pedal Angle
Hand Position - Hayley Nixon
This is the traditional method for beginners. Watch the paddle length and grip width setup video below for more information.
Setting Up Your Hand Grip - Nicholas Cryder
In general, paddle length depends on torso length when sitting in your boat. At the catch, with the blade fully submerged, you want your upper hand at about forehead height (this assumes your recovery (upper) hand goes that high with your stroke (older paddlers and paddlers with shoulder problems often have flatter strokes) - if not you can rotate your paddle shaft somewhat more vertically just for this test to see where you top hand would be). Get a friend to watch you and help you adjust your length. Or better, watch the video immediately below for a detailed description of how and why for paddle length setup.
Paddle2Fitness Podcast on Paddle Length
Stress Reduction
There are a number of factors that can affect the amount of stress that your stroke will cause on joints, tendons, ligaments, and muscles. Length can be one factor along with, blade style, blade size, and shaft stiffness. After you follow general guidelines on paddle length and start to put in more distance and/or more sprints in your paddles you may want to consider varying your paddle length either for prevention or cure of any potential or developing repetitive stress problems.
Dynamic Length Changes
Once you get some miles under your belt and you're a dedicated downwind paddler, you can consider if you want to try Oscar Chalupsky's practice of changing paddle length (facebook video), youtube video during outings. Our impression is that this is not a widespread practice, or at least not talked about that frequently. Read this surfski.info thread concerning some considerations for this practice.
Setting Paddle Length and Grip Width
- the angle paddle blades are offset from each other. The number of degrees to which you set your feather is personal. The traditional standard has been 60 degree feather. Oscar Chalupsky has been an advocate of starting paddlers at 0 feather for some time. The advantages of no feathering include making it easier to brace on both sides, and possibly reducing strain on your wrists (some report the opposite to be true). One disadvantage of no feather is wind resistance on the blade going up-wind (folks who mostly do one way downwinders may not care much, but folks who often do laps in robust wind may). Zero feather has been growing in popularity, particularly for paddlers who have improved wrist, forearm, elbow problems after adopting zero feather. And many paddlers who are more interested in enjoying downwinding rather than racing have also adopted 0 feather. Your results may vary, so you will have to figure out which you prefer (“full feather” 60° or more ??, no feather, or something in between). It appears that paddlers who have a more vertical stroke (i.e. almost all sprint kayakers are in this group), rotate their paddles naturally somewhat more and may benefit from some feather otherwise they may need to manually rotate their blades with their wrists (see Sam Milne Video on Setting Feather).
Opinions and Advice on Feather/Reduced Feather/No Feather
Videos on Setting Feather