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

[Cruiser]

A great example of the point being completly missed.

When I want to make time over open water, I apply power strokes, staying on one side or the other while paddling in a straight line, bow never wavering by more than a couple of degrees from my destination. I do not waddle like a duck with bow swinging pointing left and right away from the destination with every stroke..

I don't think I missed the point, I think my words didn't maybe convey what I was trying to say, as well as I would like. "Dancing around a dock" ... the intent was to say, when I need finesse and close quarter control, I reach for the single blade ... realize now that it could be construed as negative and that was not the intent.

As far as "waddling like a duck" and the bow going to and fro .... the DB is just another tool in the box IMO, if the hammer keeps hitting your thumb, maybe it isn't the tool for you. I personally don't waddle and haven't observed anyone with that issue in our group, we have a trip planned soon, I will try and remember to do a poll with them, see if anyone has that, as an issue.

Lots of folks use the DB, lots of folks don't use the DB ... I have a good selection/types of straight blades and bent shafts ... can't say I am totally proficient with any of them, I know enough to pick what is likely needed on any given trip and make them do what I need. The key for me, is to try the paddle type ... learn what it offers and if I can make use of it, in my tripping. Some times I like it, some times I want to change it a bit and some times I just don't like it. The nice thing about this approach is that I am always looking at new stuff and always adding to that toolbox.

Something to keep in mind, is that we don't all travel the same waters/terrain, use the same equipment, have the same trip frequency and aren't all the same age. What you pick to trip with will be impacted by all of the above, as much as we would like a "universal" paddle or the "ultimate" canoe or maybe that antigravity backpack, they just don't exist. We generally have to settle for what we find is best for the individual and as long as it gets me out there, I guess I can be content with that.

 

[eckilson]

To each his own. I have been trying to master the double blade for a couple of years now, but in a sea kayak, not a canoe. We rent a house on the beach for two weeks each summer and this is the first year that I didn't even bring a canoe - just my sea kayak. I use a 210 Werner Shuna paddle with no feather in an old plastic Capella sea kayak.

https://flic.kr/p/2ri8xwU

Yesterday I was paddling down Lower Pond on the Narrow River with a headwind and against the tide. It would have been a real slog in my canoe, but in my sea kayak it was actually kind of fun. I was pacing myself with a guy in a single rowing shell. He humored me for a while, then took off down the lake. Maybe we should all be rowing.

I have never tried a double blade in a canoe. My boats aren't set up for it - seat is high for kneeing. In open water I use a sit(kneel/hit)-and-switch stroke. Seems to me that you can pretty much match the cadence of a double blade with the with a sit-and-switch stroke on a single blade. I guess I should try it, but these days my solution to long open water crossings in a canoe is to paddle tandem. Two engines beats one almost every time.

 

[Chip]

The thing about a double blade is that you have to hold it up all the time. Unless you are using a Mohawk plastic-aluminum single blade, or the like, the single blade has some floatation. When the paddle is in the water, its flotation helps hold up your arms—you get a little break from having to hold the weight of the paddle. With the double, you have to support the weight of the paddle all the time. And, as has been repeatedly noted in this thread, you generally need a longish (i.e., heavy) double blade in the canoe because of the width of the boat and the paddler’s height above the water.

When sea kayaking, I like to paddle with a Greenland stick. When one blade is in the water, all the weight of the paddle is supported by the water. Euro blades require the paddler to support the entire weight of the paddle all the time. But forget kayaking, we are canoeists here, but it works the same. If you put your single blade vertically in the water with no weight on it, it floats and if it is a decent paddle most of the shaft is above the water line. When the blade is in the water, the water is supporting the weight of the paddle. But it doesn’t work that way for doubles—the paddler holds the weight of the paddle all the time.

Now, let’s add some beam wind. The double blader will paddle more on one side than the other to counteract the wind. So, essentially, they are single blading, using just one side of their double, while they wave the other side around in the wind.

Doubles are useful sometimes in a head wind and when you need a burst of power to attain. But generally, they just make me tired. Let me know if you are interested in my Bending Branches 260. It hasn’t been used since 2019.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

In open water I use a sit(kneel/hit)-and-switch stroke. Seems to me that you can pretty much match the cadence of a double blade with the with a sit-and-switch stroke on a single blade.

In longer crossings especially in wind and waves, and when going up-current, I go into switch paddling with my 48.5" ZRE bent shaft—almost always while kneeling. Kneeling increases my stability and confidence, again especially in wind and waves. As my age has enhanced, while my ankles haven't, I need to switch to a seated position more frequently, but will only do so in calm conditions.

The thing about a double blade is that you have to hold it up all the time. Unless you are using a Mohawk plastic-aluminum single blade, or the like, the single blade has some floatation. When the paddle is in the water, its flotation helps hold up your arms—you get a little break from having to hold the weight of the paddle.

And if you palm roll the single blade and use an entirely in-water sliced return, the water will support the paddle 100% of the time, which allows effortless use of even my heavier (than carbon) wood paddles.

 

[Steve in Idaho]

And if you palm roll the single blade and use an entirely in-water sliced return, the water will support the paddle 100% of the time, which allows effortless use of even my heavier (than carbon) wood paddles.

Also, in water recoveries help reduce or eliminate leeway in a sidewind.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Also, in water recoveries help reduce or eliminate leeway in a sidewind.

I never thought of that. Sounds right. Interesting!

 

[Steve in Idaho]

I never thought of that. Sounds right. Interesting!

It's especially effective with an ottertail, but works with any fine or foiled blade.