Thoughts on double bladed paddles from a somewhat experienced double blader.

I had to look up Serge Corbin to see that he is a marathon racer. I'm sure his race results wouldn't have been the same if he mainly used correction strokes. My gut feeling is that I go 10 to 15% faster by switching. I think the Canadians aversion to switching goes back to their reverance for Bill Mason.

I started out as a 100% correction stroke guy for my first 12 or 13 years but became almost 100% sit and switch, because it got me where I was going quicker. That lasted about 25 years when most of my paddling was done on trips and I was always pressed for time and pushing it. The last 7 or 8 years I've been doing more pleasure paddling and have reverted back to doing more correction strokes. Now I do a combination of switching and corrections. When I'm exclusively switching it is the wind that dictates when I switch sides, I almost always paddle on the downwind side of the boat.

I did a test using an app some months ago, and for raw efficiency and speed, it was no contest. Double blade excels. I’ve found the 260cm paddle works best for my size and canoes. I’ve used a double in a variety of solo canoes. There’s no replacing it. I do prefer a single blade many times, and the single is easier on my bad hands, but for wind, waves, big water and getting safely from A to B, a double blade is far superior.