I have been a kayaker for years now but have always used a basic rectangular fined kayak paddle. I bought a new fiberglass one that has a more aerodynamic shape. See picture, my old paddle is like the bottom one, new one is like the top one: http://members.optusnet.com.au/aus-kayak-fishing/articles/img/paddles.jpg

I would think I would orient this new one so that the wider half of the paddle (the edge closest to the text) would enter the water first, common sense tells me that this way even shallow paddles give you a large surface area to paddle with.

Yet pictures I have seen show kayakers holding the paddle like the way it is shown in the picuture, the wider part of the blade entering the water last. Is this the correct way to do it? Why is that?