BoatBanter.com - View Single Post - Dumb question: which side of paddle faces me as I paddle(picture)?

wrote in news:1151675277.942657.92030
@x69g2000cwx.googlegroups.com:

Brian Nystrom wrote:
And the longer edge of the blade is the top. I wish I had a buck for
every person I've seen using a paddle upside-down.

I see a lot of that too. It's usually used by someone sitting in the kayak
as if it's a lounge chair. Their PFD is either being used as a backrest or
is stuck under the deck bungies. Their feet dangling over the sides of the
boat is optional, yet for some reason the paddler often is wearing gloves
and has a paddle leash.

Hee hee! That's something I always go over when instructing the
beginner's class I teach, and I explain that when I say "You're
paddle's upside down!", that means to switch it end for end too!
Because that's not intuitively obvious to many beginners.

At my friends kayak shop they give a brief paddling demo (I've done it lots
of times for them) and that's the first thing mentioned. BTW, the chance of
picking up the paddle and having it upside down seems to be 75%.

Power (concave) face facing towards the rear/stern/back behind you
(most times), and on assymetrical paddles the shorter end of the blade
goes down. Or simpler; always hold the paddle so the manufacturer's
label is readable! (not upside down!) After all, the manufacturerer
wants you to advertize for them, yano? ;-)

In the photo supplied, the manufacturers label was on the back face.
Perception makes a kids paddle that has a smiley face on the power face. If
the smiley face is smiling then the paddle is being held correctly.