The Prism is not a 'traditional canoe' in that it wasn't designed to be
paddled 'Canadian style' spending all day on one side, J-stroking to
steer and kneeling with your butt propped on a paddling thwart. Look at
Bill Mason videos/books, or the 1922 Girl Scout manual for proper examples.

It is more the 'sit&switch' design, best paddled with your feet out in
front of you, moderate corrective strokes and switching sides every 10
or so strokes to keep going straight. Not to say you can't J-stroke,
but that's not really the most efficient stroke in this boat. It has
some design features specifically oriented to this style - lots of
tumblehome, fairly narrow to start with, virtually no rocker, and the
seat pedestal mounted at around 5" off the floor and meant to slide
fairly easily to adjust tracking in a crosswind, or to accommodate
different loads. This position is great for paddling with a 52" bent
shaft paddle, or about a 230cm double blade. The kayak paddle is great
for flat water, no side wind and no big waves. It is not as easy to use
if conditions would favor lots of 'same siding' or ruddering might be
required to turn the boat.

Mostly, the blade size is more a function of windage and tempo. Racing
blades for canoe and kayak tend to be relatively small, and I actually
prefer to use a smaller blade even for touring- they put less strain on
your joints. Also, you aren't pushing water - you are pulling the boat
to the paddle:-)

Marsh Jones
Ketter Canoeing
Brooklyn Park, MN
(Wenonah Dealer)

WG wrote:
Interesting thread...Some canoes are being designed to be paddled
sitting on the bottom with a double bladed paddle (as per Bill's post).
To me, they seem to be very much like an open kayak. And I think that's
the key. Sitting low, with low sides would make a double paddle more
efficient, whereas sitting high with high sides (as in a traditional
canoe) would argue for a single bladed paddle. From Wenonah's web site,
it appears to me that the Prism may be one of the more traditional canoes.

Another observation, that might not be accurate, is that it seems to me
that double bladed paddles have less surface area per blade than do
single bladed paddles. Is it possible that each stroke sequence pushes
about the same amount of water in double and single bladed strokes?

Bubba wrote:
All of my paddling experience has been with single paddles in a tandem
canoe. In a few weeks I'll be spending quite a lot of time in a solo
canoe (a Prism) in touring mode. Is there any advantage in using a
double paddle? Disadvantage?