: John,
: When you ask about a simpler design, are you referring to the
: design final shaping & profile of the finished paddle, or
: are you thinking more about the process of getting to the
: finished product? There are things you can do to the process,
: but far less you can change and still end up with a decent
: paddle.
: I'd encourage you to think twice about the diamond cross sections.
: Water doesn't particularly like to flow past/around sharp
: corners. It prefers smooth rounded surfaces. Here's a link to a
: page of Greenland paddles surveyed by Gail Ferris -
: http://www.guillemot-kayaks.com/Building/GailPaddles/GreenlandPaddles.html
: . Take a look at the shapes of the paddles on this page. There
: is one in the group that has a diamond-ish cross section, but
: that only starts more than halfway up the blade. All of the
: paddles have a lenticular cross-section. That is what you're
: looking for in shaping your paddle blades. Take a look at other
: Greenland paddles. If you can find someone who has a Beale
: paddle, look at how Don shapes them - he knows what he is doing
: bealepaddles.com. There are lots of approaches that can get you
: to that shape, Holst's instructions are just one way to do it.

: -John D.

Ideally water doesn't flow past the paddle, it grips the water without letting water past.

Bill H.