So far all of the discussion has centered on hollowing out the shafts. Why not hollow out portions of the blade as well?

Most of you posting to this string seem to agree that the weight saving vs strength reduction seems to be worth pursuing in the shaft, and I tend to agree. But why stop there? The blade will have both a lower bending moment (according to my model the highest moment would be under the water-side hand in a standard roll) and a larger cross sectional area. Therefore it seems that a higher percentage of material could be taken from the blade before it becomes the weak point.

As far as how to take weight out of it, what I'm picturing is a series of I-beam shaped strips glued together at their thin edges and capped on either side by c-shaped sections. I suppose if you wanted to go to extremes, you could treat the paddle like a tiny boat, which would leave the entire interior section hollowed out.

Of course, I may not have a clue as to what I'm talking about. :D I'm only a novice kayaker, and have even less experience with woodworking. Apologies if what I'm proposing couldn't possibly work!

By the way ... I only stumbled across this site last night. So far I am blown away by the resources available here and the beauty of the finished products. It's definitely making me think about trying to build one of these amazing crafts!