I was wondering if anyone can give me some feedback on how high up a person should be sitting in the kayak. Is there some sort of standard or rule of thumb?

Cheers:D

Upright as if connecting your head to a star - then lean slightly forward so that you body engages in drawing the paddle forward.

Thank you, however I was looking for some ideas as to how low in the cockpit one should be sitting? For example, should the sides of the cockpit be in line with bellybutton. I am trying to find out if I need to get a seat pad or not to lift myself up higher. Are rolls easier the higher up your body is placed?

There is no "perfect" height in a kayak. Some - like me - like to sit in deep. This makes for a very stable ride, as the weight is as low in the boat as it gets. I also get a more relax angle with the "booty low, knees high" position and this is easier on my stomach muscles. Some boats (like the Pyranha Karnali) let you sit like this naturally.

The Downside with sitting low is that the back might be blocked in its movement (important and inconvenient for rolling) and you might be slow on lateral movement. The higher the booty gets, the faster you can incline (and roll) the boat, plus it helps with a forward body position on top of all that. The Pyranha Burn is a boat, that benefits from a higher seat and will feel completely different after padding the seat up.

Just add a layer of foam next time you get on a river. If you like how the boat feels and don't find the tippiness too disturbing, you have got yourself a new seat ...

Personal choice. Some people like the in the boat feeling, others like the up high and dry feeling. Sitting lower gives you more balance, as you're more stable - lower centre of gravity. But you have slightly less control over your edges and a little less power in your strokes. Paddlers who sit higher (some playboaters sit VERY high) have more control over their edges, and have a bit more power. Sprint boaters have very high seats too, you know, those K1 boats used to race 500m, 1000m etc. in the Olympics.

Sit upright. If your elbows are hitting the sidewalls on the boat, you're quite low, but that's fine. Remember this is a personal choice. If you're elbows are just hitting the cockpit, that's also cool, probably quite good. Just clearing is getting higher but probably ideal in my opinion... You also won't smack your elbows as much on the boat this way.

Try it, you might like it. But try it a few times on an easy river, takes getting used to. If your elbows clear by like an inch or more, you're getting high. Some people put a 1 or even 2 inch or more (sorry, didn't check if you're from USA from assuming) under their seats. This is high. My advice, put a piece of foam in (don't glue it in) and see how it feels. Seat height plays a very important role, as does body position. The forward, backward, neutral positions which need to be adapted during different transition, or when doing certain things. I think you only meant height, not sure

Awesome detail and gives me some good guidelines to go on. Many thanks!

You might want to check these 3 videos out to get some good tips, I did them a while back but you'll probably find them quite useful. Well, I like to think so It was quite amusing to listen to myself again... lol