They “unbend” a bent shaft to make a straight?
No, that was just a figure of speech.
I assume they have various blade molds that bend the neck of the blade from 0 to 15 degrees. When the neck has no bend (0°) the neck profile is such that the blade is not quite flush/continuous with the centerline of the shaft. In other words, if you look at the 0° paddle from a side profile, so the blade is just a line to your eye (I), the blade will be very slightly offset from the centerline of the shaft. One blade face is about 1/4" closer to the edge of the shaft than the other face. Unless they changed molds in the 15 years since I bought mine.
I'll take a profile picture when I can find the paddle in my
garage cathedral of entropy. Meanwhile, here's an uninformative picture.
I got the Whitewater model at 57" for my 0° ZRE, which is heavier than the medium or light models, because I use it on rocky rivers, in shallows, and for powerful sweeps in cocking winds and waves. My companion paddle is a ZRE 12° Power Surge Outrigger Light model at 48.5". These two paddles can take me on any kind of trip in any kind of waters, and together weigh less than one of many of my wood paddles.
I have the
flex shaft on both of my ZRE's, which flexes like wood and is easier on the shoulder than the completely stiff standard carbon shaft. Racers like completely stiff shafts because they transmit fractionally more power to the stroke.
One could, of course, get a 0° ZRE with the asymmetrical Power Surge blade (designed by Serge Corbin, Olympic gold medalist Greg Barton and Bob Zaveral) with an asymmetrical palm grip. That would be a more powerful paddle than one with the symmetrical Z blade, but of course would have a dedicated power face like any curved, double-scooped, or lipped blade does.
An even more powerful straight ZRE is the Harold Deal designed
Power Curve paddle, which does not have the racing blade shape but rather a more rectangular Sugar Island shape, plus a nicely thumb-dimpled wooden grip. However, it's significantly heavier than a Z or Power Surge paddle, and I don't like it nearly as much.