On Oct 25, 2:43*am, "Jeff Potter (of OutYourBackdoor.com)"
wrote:
I did some stand-up paddling yesterday in my old race C1 (Wenonah
Advantage). I went for maybe 3 miles.

I made my own 6'-6" paddle out of 2 old kevlar shaft paddles combined
with a plug of carbon shaft.

It was fun and I guess kinda fast. I was paddling quite powerfully.
Really, at my top effort. It's really liberating to stand up, I find.
Same with poling.

But, dang, that paddle bent a lot. And it's quite heavy. It made me
want a carbon version, and maybe 6'-8" long. I'm 6 feet tall.

The stroke-rate ends up being very slow. I guess it's about twice as
long as a usual stroke, but slower than half as fast. So in the end,
considering the HUGE amount of flex and paddle weight---it seems like
sit-down paddling was a LOT faster.

I wonder if a carbon paddle could fix all that?

Also, it seemed to really wear away at my upper body. It seemed to use
up my muscles faster than sit-down paddling. ...But without making me
go faster!

I stand behind my seat with my dominant foot forward. It feels stable
and dyno.

Has anyone seen all the new websites about the surfers doing stand-up?
I was into stand-up for years before those websites popped up! Ha!
Here's a couple:

http://www.standuppaddlesurf.net/

http://www.paddlesurf.net/

--JP
outyourbackdoor.com

You're working too hard. The advantage to stand-up paddling is that
its more comfortable (once you get over the balance issue), you can
see downstream better, and it has more of a 'feel' to it...like skiing
as opposed to tobaggining.

But you definately won't go faster...there is too much extra motion in
the stroke, and its very hard to keep the hull trim while you take a
long stroke.

As you get better at it, you'll feel less tired because it gets
graceful and you don't work so hard. But I think only the very top and
most balanced standing paddlers would outpace a fast-stroking race
paddler.

My $.02 ($.001 with the current financial crunch)

--riverman