I, for one, appreciated your comments, Kim.  While I do paddle in the bow, my daughter paddled stern when we took our two teenagers on our only family canoe trip and it worked out very well for them.  And as a woman who loves long canoe trips (our longest was 22 days) I have always been irritated by those posts that suggest a short, easy trip when one is "taking the wife along".

I have greatly enjoyed the POD's from your trip with the "ladies".  

Lynda

And. . . .I would enjoy that kind of trip, too.   

I could stand to be so ruined!

I believe this picture was taken on the small lake known as MEDUSA LAKE. 

There's no doubt that from a physics point-of-view, the strongest paddler should be in the bow and generally in a mixed pair, that will be the guy.

That doesn't address the control issue, though.  Lot's of guys have trouble giving up control to the better half, especially in a "manly" pursuit like wilderness canoeing.  And even if the guy is willing to give up control, his partner needs to be willing to take that control as well.  That is nearly as big of a stumbling block to many pairs as the first issue.  Navigation can be part of what makes it a stumbling block, of course.  Most tandems delegate that aspect to the stern paddler as he/she needs to make the decisions and course corrections necessary to get where you want to go.

Bottom line, there is a lot of psychological and social barriers that must be overcome to pull off the pairing that physics might dictate to be the most efficient.

My wife rarely paddles with me anymore but when she did, she always paddled bow.  Physics-wise, we'd have been better off with her paddling stern.  However, she doesn't have the confidence in her navigational or steering abilities required to be truly comfortable back there.  Physics lost out to both of us being more in our comfort zone in other ways.