Are steering paddles different from regular paddles?
Yes. Steering paddles tend to have larger blade areas and may be straight shafted. The steerer’s paddle has to act much like a rudder and therefore needs to be constructed tougher to handle the sideways stresses that it experiences. In particular the shaft has to be strong. Steerers will often have a quiver of paddle sticks to cater for a variety of conditions, for rough and smooth water, sprints and distance races and some will actually change paddle types throughout a race, where a support boat is present, to cater for the change in ocean conditions.
