My first oars were an old pair of 6.5 footers I inherited. I got them when I built my blue foam dinghy and they worked OK for that boat. They were too short for the new dinghy though, so I bought a pair of 7 footers from Hamilton. I thought they were great until a friend let me try his Shaw and Tenneys. The 8' oars are lighter than my old 6.5s and soooooo much nicer to row with. They were outrageously expensive though. They cost more than the materials for my Great Harbor 10 dinghy.