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(roo) wrote in message . com...
So enlighten me to the pros and cons of different blade sizes.....

I was once told by a bloke I met on The Awe, that in a normal stroke
the blade hardly moves through the water at all during the stroke. I
guess blade size affects how much it moves - too much (blades too
asmall) and the paddle stroke will be inneficient, too little (blades
too big) and the paddle stroke will be harder work and sore on the
paddler. In terms of power and stroke rate I thinmg that's much more
down to shaft length (ooh er missus) and paddling style than blade
area.

Acceleration from a standing start might be affected, I conce tried
some Inuit blades that seemed little more than a stick flattened at
each end, so felt like they had very little 'blade' area. Once you
were moving they were excellent however, very smooth and fast. Rolling
was fun though!

The above is probably related to efficient and fast forward paddling,
but when the power of the water comes into play (WW, playbobing) then
I would imagine a smaller blade are is indeed safer - I remember being
advised to let go of my blades with one hand if taking the inverted
unplanned green flush route through a big hole.

Is the size irrelevant, because all that is required is enough
friction to plant the blade and pull yourself past the shaft?

I'd guess that's the main design criterion for current blade sizes.

Should I buy some new paddles with normal sized blades?

Depends how different yours are to current models, 10% isn't going to
make much difference, 50% will.