db wrote on Sep 18^th, 2019 at 5:25pm:

There is naught, nor ought there be anything more functional on the face of god's green earth than a bent shaft paddle. I tried a double one afternoon. I hated it - for three reasons - in order. #1 - Not a fan of the waddle. #2 - Not a fan of all the dripage in my lap and down my forearms. #3 - IMHO they're noisy. You know how another canoe in the distance gets noticed - by me at least? Over a long distance it's a flash of light. A little closer and you hear voices. The fastest canoe I've ever seen was introduced by hut - hut - hut. Man, they were flying. I've heard solos with yak paddles from way across a lake. It seems to me that if two paddlers in a tandem that had the inclination to do the hut - hut - hut thing and really wanted to fly higher, wouldn't they be using yak paddles to be more efficient? Maybe some folks do?

  I've learned to live with the "waddle" because I hate switching side to side with a single.

  First thing you learn/need when you use a double paddle in a canoe is a good pair of DRIP RINGS. Because of the higher sides of the canoe compared to a kayak, some people try and do that high windmill stroke you see kayakers do. What you want in a "flat" stroke, I think they call it a "touring" stroke?

I'm sure they are noisier but since I'm solo and rarely see that many people the times I like to go tripping the noise factor doesn't bother me. If I want to be stealthy for fishing/animal pics, I switch to the single bent shaft.

  I've seen 2 good paddlers doing the hut-hut really fly down the lake BUT the fastest I've ever seen a canoe move was on Jean Lk.

I was on the South shore barely making headway creeping along the shoreline into a stiff East-West wind. Whitecaps in the middle of the lake.

I catch something out of the corner of my eye? It's 2 young guys in a tandem canoe BOTH using double paddles. They must have practiced because they were in perfect rhythm.  That canoe looked like it had a motor on the back.

I think guys with both single bent shafts and double paddles and used to paddling together could really fly in say a 17 ft canoe.

I always advise people who think they might want to get a double paddle to get an entry-level model, make sure it's LONG enough because even a TRUE solo is wider than a kayak. Get some drip rings and watch a video on how to do the TOURING stroke.

If you hate the double, you can buy T-grip adapters and just end up with 2 single spare paddles.