Kerry,

the 8-1/4 seems about right to me.  If I were to order another ZRE, I'd stay with that width.  It seemed that I had plenty of power if needed, but still easy to paddle.

I used an 8" wide Aquabound paddle yesterday and I did notice a slight lack of power.  I had been using an 8 1/2" x 21 1/4" bladed Werner Rec paddle for a couple of hours or so, at a fast cruise pace getting a workout and trying to get to the takeout before the afternoon winds kicked in, and then switched to the lighter AQ Odessey for the last 1/2 hour of paddling at a more relaxed pace, but with a higher cadence when the wind was blowing upstream - 15 miles for Sunday.  Based on that, I think an 8" blade width would be just a bit too small, at least for my preference.  Yet with the 8 1/4"  Zav, I didn't feel that way. 

Hard to say/guess how much difference an extra 1/4" of width would make?