: Others can chime in if they think I am full of hot air, but here is
: my reading.

: One important purpose of the curved blade (or to be more precise,
: of the combination of the curve and where it is located relative
: to the shaft axis) in good commercial paddles is to place the
: center of resistance of the blade behind the shaft of the paddle
: during the normal forward stroke. This causes the paddle to
: automatically orient with the blade squared to the direction of
: the stroke. Of course you also need to balance the area of the
: blade on either side of the shaft axis for this to work. If the
: paddle is properly shaped, you can pull hard and the blade will
: orient correctly even if you hold the shaft loosely enough to
: let it rotate freely in your hands. This characteristic saves
: significant effort on a long paddle, particularly in rougher
: water where boat and water movement otherwise interferes with
: one's stroke. It means that your grip on the paddle shaft can
: remain more relaxed than it could without this geometry . . .

: Allan Edie

I use both a flat and a curved blade paddle, with a relaxed grip (necessary due to Arthritis) in both cases. I haven't noticed the self-orienting characteristic that you describe is any more pronounced than with the flat bladed paddle. The curved blade one is much nicer to use, but it is about 40% lighter - and was a lot more expensive . . .