I guess you could try it both ways... But I have 32yrs paddling my rather wide tandem solo and I hate paddling it from the front seat backwards very far. I do it a lot as I live on a lake and paddle it a lot to go across to visit my dad vs driving a couple miles. I paddle it backwards since I put on so much wieght and put a fat guy in the back of a canoe alone... Just putting someone in the bow and not paddling, I can way out perform me olone paddling backwards. Maybe I'm just wierd... I know another member of this forum paddles a Minn 2 and when he goes off fishing alone he puts a rock in the bow and away he goes. He might have tractor seats and a thwart... So it would be kind of awkward to sit backwards. I would be up to learn some techniques to improve my abilities if I'm totally out of whack here. I just experianced what they mean by sit and switch in my solo on my last trip. I did a good stretch in very good time. I normally can paddle one side for hours otherwise.