: Your hitting on why I am asking. But, what got me to thinking is
: that you are leaning/canting the blade as you paddle. So as
: water slide around the blade I am wondering if you're creating
: lift in front of the blade because of the shape and angle of the
: blade?

: It's just one of the things I have been thinking about and figure
: there is a good explanation somewhere out there of how they
: really work. Doesn't really matter, I am just curious and I do
: get asked about it a lot. And while I have never attempted to
: measure the are of one, the face are looks smaller than a Euro
: but that may not be case.
Hi Kudzu,
My 80's engineering knowledge? suggests that the lift is the normal force created by an aerofoil which is shaped so that, on one side, fluid is forced to travel faster [further] than on the other side of the foil.This provides a pressure diffence which results in the normal[90 degrees to main direction] force.We paddle by putting a funny [odd] shaped stick in the water and pulling.any shape as long as it can "grip"the fluid no doubt shearing it around the "blade" edges so that we impart our pulling force onto the fluid.Sales and marketing types would try and explain this to extract sales and marketing values.....I have heard recently that aerodynamics has recently been turned on it's head in this area of physics...and jumbos fly due to engine thrust alone and it is the attitude of the wing to the direction of thrust that creates the "lifting" force.cheers.