I just took my brandy-new, hot off the finishing cradles, cedar strip Merlin on its maiden cruise on a local river this morning.  My first paddle in a purpose built solo.  I have a sliding seat, and took along a 230 cm bent shaft yak paddle (because I have one!), and two bent-shaft paddles (52 and 56 cm).

Now ordinarily I'm a slow cadence deep-dipping, power stroker who uses an occasional light J to keep the pointy end pointed where want to go.  But this morning I learned some hard truths about a center seat solo canoe... particularly one that isn't loaded down with gear:

1)  Yep!  They handle just like tandems in the wind:  bow heavy up wind good, stern heavy bad (and vice versa for downwind)
2)  A standard yak paddle is WAY too short!  I gotta find a nice long one so I don't have to raise it to a steep angle just to reach the water.
3)  Drip rings are worthless when the paddle is so short and the angle so high that the ring comes inside the gunnels on each stroke... they just make sure that rivulet dumps right in your lap!
4)  A comfortable bent shaft used in the conventional sit & switch manner can get you 4-8 good strong strokes on one side before the bow starts swinging too much and a switch is needed.

No news in any of these observations, just confirmation that a new, long 'yak paddle is in my near future... and hopefully Woodland Caribou not long after that!