Eric, it depends so much on the canoe, seat height, conditions and the paddler’s preference that any individual sizing or blade style recommendation is near useless.
We have a decade’s long collection of paddles. I wouldn’t select one of the old extra-long guide sticks other than for historic memories or sail ruddering, but they go out sometimes. Not a big fan of bents or of double bents, but again. . . . .
Nor some of the old “heavy weights with history”; it is so hard to go back once you’ve gone carbon fiber black, but I still sometimes pick one of those as a back-up, depending on the travails of travel.
To the oiled/varnished discussion, I absolutely want an oiled grip, enough to strip/sand off varnish on the grips and below and lay on multiple coats of oil. The off-hand shaft doesn’t bother me as much if varnished.
So would many of you recommend stripping the polyurethane off new paddles and varnishing-oiling? Is the feel that much improved?
I would try it first on a paddle that already needs some attention to see how much it matters to you. It also would be real helpful to find the thread where Canotrouge describes his technique to get the right results. I like the way the oiled shaft slips through my fingers when switching sides.
Brad, absolutely. An oiled grip is so much nicer under hand. Good opportunity to sand/rehape anything you don’t like about the grip
The carbon blades (ZRE) I use aren't glossy and have a soft feel either dry or wet. Back in my kayaking days I used an ONNO that had the same feel, which were touted as being wet sanded. Later I bought an EPIC wing paddle and it was glossy. Hated the feel of it. It gave me blisters and alternated between too sticky and too slippery when dry or wet. I ended up sanding the shaft with 600 or 1000 grit (don't remember which) and that made all the difference.
On carbon paddles the texture (or lack thereof) makes a huge personal difference, and I kinda agree about glossy carbon. I like the tri-axial weave carbon for grip and orientation, but after a daylong paddle that ridged/ribbed texture can leave me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWY1iuPAkyM
If recommending a canoe for someone’s use is difficult, recommending a paddle is near impossible.