: Hello All,
: I am in the process of making Nick's Euro paddle from his book and
: the instructions say it should be 90" long. I paddle a
: 21" wide boat and am 5'11". Will this length be ok to
: use?

My opinion is that it will work, but depending on who you ask, 228cm is a fairly long paddle. Many prefer something shorter, more around 210cm. Paddle characteristics and the preferences for or against can get pretty finely tuned to individual's tastes, so the real question is will it be OK for you to use. And only you can answer that, preferably after some trial paddling. I'm 5'11 also, if I were to use a euro blade, it would be 210, however my preferences in Greenland sticks run to 86" or 218cm. That's long, but the blades are skinny. It's all a trade-off. With a shorter paddle you can achiever a faster rotation, quicker. If your aim is a low-angle slow cruising style, you might like it longer. Preferences for paddle length seem to change over years. Longer paddles seem to have been the overall preference some years back, and have gotten shorter over the last decade or so. If you could demo some commercial paddles with similar designs to what you want to build, you can learn what lengths feel good to you. And as you paddle and gain experience, your tastes may change. (I have no idea of your current experience level, or what kind of paddling you intend to do).

Hope that helps!