You will take about 1,000 paddle strokes for every mile you cover in your kayak. As you spend more time on the water, your kayak paddle will either become your best friend, or worst enemy. Before committing to any single paddle, let me tell you what I’ve learned about how to choose a kayak paddle.
There are five key steps to choosing the right kayak paddle (for you). First, get the length right. A tall paddler that sits high in a wide kayak requires a long paddle. Next, select a paddle made of materials that allow for a comfortable swing weight. Then, select a blade style that is consistent with your paddling activity and technique. Finally, choose a paddle shaft that fits your hand-size, feels comfortable and allows for adjustment.
PaddleGeek.com is reader-supported. I may earn a commission for purchases made through links in this post.
Table of Contents
Anatomy of a Kayak Paddle
At its most basic, a kayak paddle is little more than a pole with a couple of modestly-flexible fins located at either end.
In practice, kayak paddles are slightly more complex and understanding their various characteristics can help you choose one that will best suit your particular needs.
Select a paddle that is the correct length.
The length of the kayak paddle that you require is determined by the width of your boat, how high you sit in that boat, your height and to some extent, the type of kayaking in which you plan to engage.
Kayak width. The wider your kayak, the longer the paddle that you require. Wide, stable kayaks are typically used by recreational paddlers out for a pleasant day on the water. They require a little more reach to fully immerse the paddle blade in the water.
How to fit your paddle. As a rule of thumb, you want your blade to be fully immersed in the water when you paddle. If your blade does not fully submerge, then your paddle is too small. Go longer.
If your blade goes all the way in the water as well as a significant amount of the shaft, then your paddle is too long. Go shorter.
A paddle that is too short however, results in inefficient energy transfer. This means that you’ll go through all the work of paddling but won’t get nearly as far as you would with a properly-sized paddle.
A paddle that is too long carries with it excess weight that will fatigue your muscles over time.
If you have short legs and a long torso, you might require a slightly shorter paddle than what a standard fitting chart would suggest.
Paddle angle. This refers to the angle at which you hold your kayak paddle as you execute a stroke.
A low-angle stroke is considered more relaxing. The paddle is held close to horizontal with only enough slope to insert a blade into the water. Recreational kayakers often use this stroke to maximize pleasure at the expense of speed. Also, a low-angle stroke is common with touring paddlers that want to cover significant distances while conserving energy.
A high-angle stroke is more aggressive. The kayak paddle is positioned much closer to vertical as the stroke is executed close to the boat. High angle strokes are used by paddlers that require rapid and powerful propulsion.
The angle of the paddle blade is a key factor when determining the optimal length of a kayak paddle.
Each manufacturer has a slightly different paddle-sizing table. Werner Paddles inspired the one below. It provides suggested paddle lengths for a notional kayaker in a touring boat, given different blade styles, boat widths and body height.
From this table of baseline paddle sizes, you can adjust the length that you personally require based on your particular circumstances.
If you plan to spend time in whitewater, then you will requires a paddle that is slightly shorter than the baseline suggested in the table above. Most whitewater paddles are between 192-198 cm.
Similarly, if you spend all of your time in a sit-on-top fishing kayak with an elevated seat, then you should add some length to the baseline estimate so that you can reach the water from your elevated perch.
Quick-and-dirty paddle measurement. Hold a paddle in front of you with your elbows bent at 90 degrees. Your hands should be on the shaft about one hand-width from where each blade begins. If this is so, then your paddle fits reasonably well.
Choose a kayak paddle constructed with the lightest materials you can afford
Manufacturers construct different kinds of kayak paddles out of several different materials. Obviously.
The lower the swing weight, the better the experience (and the higher the price tag). When you are selecting a paddle, focus principally on swing weight. The term ‘swing weight’ describes how heavy the shaft and blades feel in your hands.
When you lift a blade out of the water, does it feel like a softball or a golf ball? The paddle that feels like you are lifting a golf ball has the lower swing weight. After taking 3,000 strokes over three miles, would you prefer your next stroke to feel like lifting a softball or a golf ball out of the water?
I’m sure you get the drift.
The lighter the paddle, the more comfortable (and efficient) your paddling experience and the longer you can stay out on the water.
However, lighter materials cost more – at least when you shape them into a kayak paddle. So you need to be thoughtful about the dollar value of a great day on the water and how much money you want to invest in future great days.
In the meantime, let’s discuss the various materials of which paddles are typically constructed.
Aluminum shaft and plastic blades. The lowest-quality paddles are typically constructed with an aluminum shaft and some type of plastic or nylon blade. This is the kind of paddle that a dealer will throw in for free when you purchase a kayak.
Low-end paddles do the job.
They are reasonably solid and because their blades are flexible, they are less prone to damage.
The downside is that they are heavy, so you’ll tire out sooner.
The aluminum tends to reflect the current ambient temperature as well. So if you’re paddling in the late fall, you’ll need to put on mitts because that aluminum blade will be chilly.
And remember those flexible paddle blades? Sure, they won’t break as easily, but their flexibility makes for a really inefficient paddle stroke. You may find yourself wanting to break them, anyway.
Moving up to fiberglass. As you move up the quality (and price) ladder, the next material you’ll run into is fiberglass. Both paddle shafts as well as paddle blades are constructed with fiberglass.
Fiberglass is more lightweight than plastic. It is also more rigid, making each paddle stroke more efficient than whatever you would produce with a plastic blade.
While fiberglass might chip, it doesn’t crack all the way through. So, unless you lose it, the odds are pretty good that a fiberglass paddle will be around for awhile
Fiberglass is a mid-price material. It does not craft the lightest paddles, but it does provide a noticeable difference when advancing from an aluminum/plastic model.
Carbon fiber is currently the last stop on the kayak paddle material spectrum. Both shafts and blades are constructed with carbon fiber. The material is super-light and ultra-stiff. Because of this, paddles constructed with the stuff provide top-of-the-line energy transfer. You can literally paddle further and faster with less energy.
Carbon fiber can also be utilized in a composite material to craft a really thin blade, allowing it to cut through the water with ridiculous efficiency.
Wood. Really? As startling as it might seem, some very high-end kayak paddles are constructed with wood blades.
First of all, these things are works of art. Absolute gorgeous-ity.
The key benefit of a wooden blade, other than its slick looks, is its liveliness. Because wood has a natural buoyancy, when you finish a stroke, the blade is already trying to pop out of the water on its own. This feature serves to reduce your fatigue over longer voyages.
Among the downsides of wood are the air weight (relative to carbon) and the fact that you’ll have to spend time repairing chips, sanding and varnishing the thing (although I can think of more than one person that would see this as a selling feature).
Foam core blades are lively (and pricey). While carbon fiber blades don’t have natural buoyancy, they can be injected with it, artificially. In doing so, the same liveliness of wood can be had in the shape of a smooth, rigid carbon blade.
Similar to the wooden blades, the buoyancy of a foam core blade serves to pop it out of the water as you finish a stroke.
The bad news is you’ll need to empty your wallet to purchase a kayak paddle with carbon foam core blades. This technology represents the pinnacle of what is currently available in the paddle world. As you might imagine, it comes with a lofty price tag.
The material of your kayak blade will have a significant impact on the quality of your paddling experience. If you are reasonably serious about the sport and plan to allocate time and resources to it, choosing a kayak paddle constructed of the highest-quality materials you can afford will keep the swing weight low and enjoyment high.
Choose a kayak paddle with a blade shape that matches your needs
The size and shape of your kayak blade impacts your performance on the water.
Kayak blades are usually crafted in an asymmetrical design. This means that they are narrow and shorter on one side. This angle allows the surface area of the blade to be more uniform as it pushes through the water.
We discussed paddle blade angle earlier. To review, a paddle with a low angle provides for a more relaxing, recreational experience at slower speeds. A higher angled paddle is designed to generate greater propulsion.
Blade width is directly connected to its angle. Narrower blades tend to be associated with lower angle paddling. This facilitates long stretches of comfortable kayaking.
Wider blades are usually associated with high angle designs. These blades are useful in situations where you require powerful strokes to accelerate quickly, such as in a surf zone.
Think of a wider kayak blade like a higher gear on your bike. It allows you to move faster, but it requires more effort to reach it.
Dihedral blade. This may very well be the coolest word in all of kayaking. A dihedral is the rib down the center of a blade that allows water to flow smoothly and evenly over both halves of the blade.
This rib reduces what we call blade flutter, allowing your blade to track more efficiently through the water.
Specialized blade features accomplish particular tasks. Some paddle blades are constructed with unique features.
For paddlers that require instant power and blazing speed, a spoon blade is crafted with a scooped design to provide instant power (if you’re strong enough to wield it).
Some kayak paddle blades are designed specifically for anglers. They include a J-shaped notch in the blade to retrieve fishing lines and hooks that have snared on an underwater hazard.
There are many alternative that will allow you to choose a kayak paddle that fits your unique needs.
“Who’s the cat that won’t cop out when there’s danger all about? SHAFT! Right on.”
The last important piece to the kayak paddle puzzle is the shaft. It’s the single part of the paddle that connects to your body so, a comfortable shaft is critical.
“Can you dig it?”
We discussed paddle shaft material earlier, noting that lower quality shafts tend to be made from aluminum while the highest quality shafts are constructed with carbon fiber.
Straight shafts versus bent shafts. Kayak paddles are constructed with either a straight shaft or one with slight kinks to improve the position of your hands.
Bent shafts are interesting. They position your hands at a more comfortable angle during the propulsive portion of your stroke. This allows you to keep your four fingers firmly on the shaft as you move through your paddle stroke. The result is a more comfortable and efficient stroke with less joint fatigue.
Some paddle design and manufacturing companies (such as Werner Paddles) have put a lot of thought into the design of their bent-shaft paddles. These paddles are constructed to provide the familiar feel and handling of a straight shaft, with the comfort and joint-protection of a bent shaft.
If choose a kayak paddle that requires a transition from straight-shaft to bent-shaft, you’ll need to allocate some time to adjust your paddling technique to accommodate the new shaft design.
Matched versus feathered paddles. Matched (or unfeathered) paddles are constructed with blades that are aligned with one another. In other words, the angle of the blade at one end of the shaft is the same as the angle of the blade at the other end.
Feathered blades are offset at an angle to one another. If you look straight down the paddle shaft, one blade will be horizontal and the other blade will be at some angle between 15-90 degrees. There are a couple of reasons why:
When you take a stroke with an unfeathered blade set-up, your top blade faces the same direction as the bottom blade. (In other words, the blades are facing front-to-back.) While the bottom blade is moving water, the top blade is creating wind drag by pushing against oncoming air.
Feathering the blade setup reduces the wind drag by reducing the surface area of the top blade (that is facing front-to-back), or so the argument goes.
My sense is that feathering a kayak blade is less about wind drag and more about efficiency of stroke.
If you work slowly through the various wrist positions that you create through a stroke, you notice that the higher your paddle angle, the more blade offset (feathering) you require in order to keep your paddling efficient and your joints healthy.
So, depending on your typical paddle angle, you will probably require a feathering angle between 30 and 75 degrees.
Most paddle shafts allow for custom feathering. The good news is that most paddle shafts allow you to adjust the amount of feathering to your natural paddle angle – usually in increments of 15 degrees.
Do you like your paddle shaft in pieces? Paddle shafts tend to be constructed in single-piece, two-piece and four-piece models. The more gear that you have to carry with you, the more convenient it is to have a paddle that breaks down into small pieces.
It is convenient to break a single long paddle into two shorter pieces to load into your super-cool minivan.
It is even more convenient to break your paddle down into four much smaller pieces before you hit the first portage of your expedition.
Right-hand versus left-hand control. This refers to which hand is responsible for rotating the shaft during a stroke with feathered blades. You can set up most paddles for either left or right-hand control.
Asymmetric Grip. This is a design in which one section of the shaft – typically the right-hand side – is oval instead of round. This is referred to as indexing and helps you determine your blade angle without having to actually look at it. It allows you to keep your eyes on the (watery) road.
Let’s talk about actual paddles
In my view, Werner make some of the best kayak paddles on the planet. They are my favorite, anyway.
Werner paddles are super-light, feel great in my hands and allow me to paddle efficiently while remaining well-balanced.
Most high-end paddles do, but I just prefer Werner.
Visit Werner’s website for a lot more information about their paddles as well as some beautiful images of kayak paddlers doing their thing.
(In the interest of full disclosure, the following links are Amazon Affiliate links. I have learned that Werner Paddles can actually be purchased at quite competitive prices on Amazon. No surprise, I suppose.)
If your taste is towards ultra-light, straight-shaft paddles, check out the Werner Corryvreckan Carbon Straight Shaft Kayak Paddle. This is the paddle that I literally just purchased for the upcoming season. I can confirm that the 28.25 oz stated weight feels like you’re holding a broomstick.
For a bent-shaft paddle that provides an all-around, extraordinary paddling experience, check out the Werner Shuna Fiberglass Bent Shaft Kayak Paddle.
If kayak fishing is your thing and you like to paddle rather than pedal, check out the Werner Shuna Hooked Adjustable Fiberglass Kayak Fishing Paddle.
While Werner manufacture my go-to kayak paddles, I would be remiss if I didn’t note the good work by Aqua-Bound.
On paper, the Aqua Bound Manta Ray Carbon 4-piece Kayak paddle with Posi-Lok is lightweight and flexible – allowing you to swap positions. I haven’t used it, but there are several excellent paddlers who vouch for the company as well as this paddle.
Aqua Bound manufactures several high-quality kayak paddles that are probably worth more attention than I’ve ever given them.
Parting thoughts about how to choose a kayak paddle
Choosing the paddle that is right for you is one of the most important decisions you’ll make before you hit the water.
It is important to select a paddle length that is appropriate to your body size as well as your kayak characteristics. Use a paddle-fitting chart and then bias the recommended size up or down according to the type of paddling you plan to do. The more wave-based your fun, the shorter the paddle length that you require.
Choose a kayak paddle with the lowest swing weight and yes, highest price point, that you can manage. Remember, more carbon = more smiles.
Take some test paddles out on the water to determine your preference for shaft features as well as blade size and shape.
As a final thought, think about your overall kayak/paddle investment in terms of a 75%/25% split. If you have $1,000 to spend on a kayak/paddle combination, then direct $750 to the kayak and $250 to the paddle. (You’ll have to gross these numbers up a bit to get a reasonable new boat.)
I have never met anyone that purchased a high-end kayak paddle that complained it was too light and comfortable.
Ever.