RE: [Paddlewise] (paddlewise) Carbon paddles

> -----Original Message-----
> From: K. Whilden [mailto:kwhilden_at_u.washington.edu]
regarding Matt Broze's comment about unfeathered paddle
> You said it twice... unfeathered paddles are more likely to 
> break in the
> surf than feathered paddles. Would you mind explaining the reasoning
> behind this? Is this during the surfing, sidesurfing, 
> capsize, or swimming
> stage? Do you have a statistical basis for this? Or is it simply that
> unfeathered paddlers are braver/dumber than the average, and therefore
> tend to get munched more often... :)

  Hey Kevin et al,

  Matt will hopefully answer from his own point of view.  I paddle all the
time unfeathered - I guess that I could see getting into a situation where
there are _balanced_ forces acting on each of the blades and the
hull/body/rock/log etc. acting as a fulcrum at a point on the shaft - snap!
With a feathered paddle I'd think that you'd be much less likely to have a
situation with balanced force acting on both ends of the paddle.  A strong
force on one blade would simply cause the paddle to twist - giving way to
the force and tending to move into a parallel position with the direction of
the force.  my humble .02
  In answer to your last question - unfeathered paddlers usually demonstrate
higher mental and physical faculties as well as being better looking. <vbg>
Don't know why their paddles break though.

Dave Seng
Juneau, Alaska
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