"Monk Terry" wrote in message
oups.com...
Sorry- I pushed post without adding my note!

Following up on William's comments-
If you all have fooled around solo in a canoe enough you will know that
weight placement is very important to steering, especially in wind
(less so in waves) .

And jumping into the fray...

I know that the particular strokes I use with my canoe paddle have lots of
little variants that would be hard to replicate with a kayak blade. It could
be argued that they don't need to be replicated, that kayak paddles have
their own movements, but I can't imagine having the ablity to do such a
smooth 'abeam' or being able to push the boat through narrow places with a
kayak blade. In fact, the only place I can imagine a kayak paddle being even
a little competitive with a single blade is on open water, moving straight
ahead. And that is a very limited timeframe indeed.

I think thats the reason that the users of canoes for hundreds and hundreds
of years never used double-ended blades, although they were existant.

--riverman