paddle blades...im gonna muddy the water here

[steamroller]

i dont know much about canoe/kayak paddles but i do know a little about high pressure steam and hydro  turbines and their blades...

if youre trying to get the most out of an impulse it is usually best to use a curved blade shaped like a bucket...has anyone given any thought to or tried  using a curved paddle blade??

[Tree]

No but I have thoght about putting a prop on an old beater weedwhacker.

[Kaweeka]

well canoe paddles have to be some of the most primitive* of tools still in use . . .

the good thing is we have a lot of sharp people working on the problem as it relates to stand up paddling

closest thing I can think of to the turbine is the wing paddle used in kayak/surf ski racing but they use a different blade shape for each side

i keep looking at this paddle (with the C4 for comparison)* and thinking it might be a design to try (using the blade shape on the right since I can't envision a single bladed paddle not being symmetric).  It has a real dihedral blade, curves top to bottom, and side to side.  Great wave ski/kayak surfing paddle, grabs a lot of water, and gets you up on plane quickly






but i have no talent working with glass much less carbon fiber so I'll keep buying what the guys who do will make . . . when they let me buy one

Aloha - David

* there is a paddle above the fire place at my cousin's house that has to date back to the 1800's and it looks very close to the outline of this paddle

[Shawn Michael]

My ZRE has a subtle curve as do several others but I think the trick is getting a clean entry and exit with a spooned blade

[noworrieshawaii]

The new Werner Carve Surf paddle has a spooned blade. Just picked one up and will try this week. Narrower than my Kialoa so should be interesting.

[stoneaxe]

The Quickblade Peahi is so scooped it made me fall in when I tried to use it. Big blade too. I was much more the newb at the time and couldn't control it...kept shooting off to the side. Grabs water like nothing else I've tried though.
http://www.kenalu.com/forums/ask-how/quickblade-peahi/

I built a wooden paddle with a more subtle scoop that I really liked ....until I broke it. The scoop also released at the bottom so it acts like a reverse dihedral...no flutter. Not sure if it would catch in surf when skimming though. Never got a chance to get it into anything big.