Thanks for the post and your ideas & comments.

After the last post, I simply made the starboard side the same shape as the port and finished smoothing it out and put 6 coats of linseed oil on it. I tried it underway this morning for the first time and am sorry to report it still has a ways to go.

Though I reported that I had gotten most of the squirrelly behavior out of the paddle, I'm afraid this was only relative to the first, very thick asymmetric shape which behaved very badly. Currently the paddle catches well, draws fairly well, but has an annoying flutter on exit. The bite is pretty strong, probably stronger than I need or desire. The catch is quiet, but the exit is pretty noisy. The paddle is still mildly unpredictable and thus disconcerting in anything but a forward stroke. I might be able to correct some of this with technique and practice. The good news is it still has great lift but I'm thinking I will sacrifice some of this if I don't get the hang of it soon.

As you suggest, it looks like I need to move further toward symmetry. I also wonder what effect making it narrower without changing the symmetry would have. As you say, there is only so much wood to play with. I'm going on vacation with it (and my spoke shave) for a couple weeks, I'll report in when I get back.

The blade is currently 3-1/2" wide at the tip with a full, straight taper to the loom. About 3/4" thick at the tip, maybe a little less. The ends are half circles and the edges are pretty sharp except for the tip with is fully rounded.

: hi,

: interesting to read about your experiment / experiences. As you started with
: much assymmetry (way too much) and then slimmed down and reduced it, you
: have in a way gone the opposite route compared with my paddle project. I
: suspect you may still have "too much" assymmetry, or at least
: much more than I do.

: I started out with a wide elliptical west greenland design and kept slimming
: it and making it narrower (and lighter) and the idea of giving it some
: wing profile only occurred to me very late in the process. So I no longer
: had much material to remove! Resulting in a fairly mild assymmetry.

: From your desription I understand that you have full taper ie. all the blade
: length. Is this so? How wide is the tip?

: This type of paddle probably needs be built in several stages, so that one
: can feel one's way towards a fit with one's style and boat. That is, carve
: some wood off, use it for maybe several outings, and see if any new ideas
: about the shape will appear.

: The sourness of the back stroke you report seems to indicate that some
: further softening of the assymmetry is required - mine exhibits no such
: behaviour. The fact that you managed to get rid of the nasty behaviour on
: the forward stroke but still have the enourmous lift intact however
: indicates that you may well be near optimum, that is, if enourmous lift is
: desired. Does it also have very strong bite during the forward stroke?

: Fun to read about someone "running back to the shop" to modify the
: design!