I had the exact same experience as SD. On my first solo trip i was fully committed to a double blade to the tune of a couple hundred bucks. I forced myself to use it the entire first day from French Lake down to Cache Lake. I absolutely hated the unwieldy length on Baptism Creek and never did feel comfortable with it on open water either. About the middle of day two I went to my single blade back up and have never looked back. That expensive graphite double now gathers dust in my garage attic. FWIW, I am a lifelong canoer and have never really taken to the kayak thing. I'm embarrassed to say that I felt like a real klutz with the double.