: Don

there are basically two extremes in paddle shapes... completely flat, like a classic canoe paddle, or a spoon paddle that actually curves all the way around making a small Nike swoosh shape at the bottom of the blade. The extreme spoon blades are made to catch the most water possible for a given paddle size (per race regulation) a completely flat paddle is a cheap generic design that you can buy for 25 or 30 dollars... Mohawk makes a line of flat blade paddles that a lot of people use for spare paddles. to sum up the blade shape issue you could say that the more spoon, the more power you will get, and the less efficient it will be. conversely the paddles that almost have an opposite spoon shape (dihedral) catch less water and thus require a higher cadence which makes the paddle produce less fatigue. that's the same with the long thin paddles. The produce less pull on the water. if you want a good wood paddle that is for touring go for the longer bladed bending branches paddle. if you expect to be surfing, and need more paddle bending branches has a very nice paddle that has a larger power face. I am personally impartial to bending branches simply because their designs are very nice. the blade shape is just as good as any of the high tech fibre paddles. and they are relatively light as well...

there's my two sense hope it helps

PS to really know what kind of paddle you need, go to your local shop and ask if you can take a couple paddles out to test them. That's the only way to really know what you want.