Do you carry a paddle in your boat?

every time

Yes. And an anchor. And tools. And common spares. Twice.


And a handheld VHF radio. You can always catch the CG.

Yep. Always have a paddle. It’s mostly used as a push pole when I get stuck.

I do. It is also possible to paddle a 24' pontoon boat very slowly and with a lot of effort using a removable igloo cooler top

Yes but I do t think it would help !

Learn to scull. At least that's what my dad called it. Said he learned it in the Navy.
Basically, it's a back & forth with the paddle staying in the water the whole time.
I haven't used it with my bay boat, but it's gotten me out of a bind in my bateau plenty of times.

Similar to this technique, but off the bow of the boat instead of the stern.
https://www.pbo.co.uk/seamanship/sculling-over-the-stern-20811

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Ferrymen and watermen could once be seen piloting surprisingly big and heavily-laden craft across crowded harbours with a single oar worked over the transom, but these days it’s much less common.

You’ll still see sculling over the stern in use around our coasts, however, if you look in the right places. Fishermen can sometimes be seen sculling noiselessly out to their trawlers on early mornings, and Sea Scouts, old gaffer sailors and traditional village regattas do their best to keep the skill alive.

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The sculler, holding the oar with both hands, makes a figure-of-eight motion with his hands and arms and at the same time, by twisting the oar, causes the oar’s blade to emulate the motion of a fish tail or a ship’s propeller. A skilled sculler can make a boat travel very fast and move large loads.
It’s a skill that most yachtsmen can master with a little practice, and can come in really useful.
I learned to scull some years ago, but have never managed to master standing up and using both hands well enough to make it effortless. Time to talk to an expert. Glyn Foulkes, lifelong resident of the River Hamble and well-known local chandler, is the local sculling champion, having learned at an early age and won every sculling race at the annual Swanwick, Bursledon and Warsash Regatta since the early 1970s. Glyn could recently be seen at the regatta’s water carnival sculling a lighter with a half-sized London bus atop it!

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No one fighting the current with a paddle in any normal sized boat around Sela

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I do. It is also possible to paddle a 24' pontoon boat

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Been there, done that. I sat on the very front of the boat and had paddle about a mile or so downstream (thank God) in the Savannah river. Hardest part was staying in the run and not getting shoved in the bushes going around turns. Oh, and the Pontoon I was in was only 18'.

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Do any of y’all not have a paddle in the boat when you go out?

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It's a 20 mile open water run to where I redfish. A paddle won't do me shite. If I lose big engine and trolling motor I have sea tow.