Patent ID: 7125299

Claim:
A pair of hand held paddles for underwater movement at high speed, consisting of a right hand paddle and a left hand paddle: (1) the right paddle having a right side arc and a left side arc extending from a relatively flat base line near the right wrist of the user to a point forward of the extended fingers of the user and outboard of the right hand of the user, the right side arc having a shorter length and relatively slight curvature compared to the left side arc, extending from the base line to the forward point of the paddle and a left side arc of greater length and greater curvature than that of the right side arc, a notch in the left side arc for engagement by the right thumb of the user and at least one notch in the right side arc to engage at least one finger of the right hand of the user; a broad aft zone extending between the left and right side arcs from the base of the paddle to a line approximately across the paddle from the thumb notch to a right finger notch on which the palm of the right hand rests, said aft zone having a slight curvature longitudinally to accommodate the palm of the right hand, a forward zone between the right and left side arcs extending from the line between notches to the forward point, said zone having a curvature greater than that of the aft zone and increasing in curvature from said line to said point; and (2) the left paddle having a right side arc and a left side arc extending from a relatively flat base line near the left wrist of the user to a point forward of the extended fingers of the user and outboard of the left hand of the user, the left side arc having a shorter length and relatively slight curvature than the right arc, extending from the base line to the forward point of the paddle and a right side arc of greater length and greater curvature than that of the left side arc, a notch in the right side arc for engagement by the left thumb of the user and at least one notch in the left side arc to engage at least one finger of the left hand of the user; a broad aft zone extending between the left and right side arcs from the base of the paddle to a line approximately across the paddle from the thumb notch to a left finger notch on which the palm of the left hand rests, said aft zone having a slight curvature longitudinally to accommodate the palm of the left hand, a forward zone between the right and left side arcs extending from the line between notches to the forward point, said zone having a curvature greater than that of the aft zone and increasing in curvature from said line to said point; whereby greater underwater speed is attained.