Allan Bennett wrote:

Having said all that, it is odd that most paddlers accept the 'one size fits
all' approach to blade size.

Not *that* odd... I was looking around for my own paddle to go with my
own boat rather than the club ones. I'd got on okay with them (just
about all Nordkapps) and the great majority of the club members used
them, and Lendal market it as their benchmark sea touring blade. So if
I got Nordkapps I could be pretty sure that though they wouldn't
necessarily be the absolute best thing, they *would* do what I wanted
and needed. Luckily the Paddlok setup meant I could buy a nice shaft
and try out different (relatively) cheap blades to choose a shape with
slightly more experience of different shapes. But only slightly more,
there's still dozens of possibilities I haven't been able to try.

And I still don't know for sure I've got the perfect paddle for me:
there are just too many to try everything. Choice is bad as well as good!

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch University of Dundee
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/