I love bow paddling, both on flat water and in white water, but I seldom get to do it. I really enjoy making those big cross bows in the middle of a bunch of frothing water, and the feel of being waaaaaaaaaaay up there going over haystacks. On lakes, bow paddling gives me a chance to really become a thoughtless blob of automatic paddling. However, at my current weight, its hard to find a meaty sternsmen to balance me out, and I fear I will be delegated to the stern, or go solo, for most of my paddling career.