[Paddlewise] feathered paddling

This is a response to the feathered paddling thread.

In reading the post from Duane Strosaker I found myself 
agreeing with points that he made about unfeathered 
paddling.
I am an ACA and BCU instructor in Minneapolis and when I 
teach any class I show my students how to paddle both 
feathered and unfeathered. Some students find that they 
like the predictability of having both blades in the 
same plane and others like the extra arm action that 
occurs with paddling feathered. I love paddling into 
high winds so I paddle feathered much of the time but 
will paddle unfeathered every so often. Some people must 
paddle with unfeathered paddles because of tendonitis 
setting into their control wrists. That is one reason 
why the paddle manufacturers decreased feathered angles 
from 80% to 60%. I never frown upon unfeathered paddling 
but I think that your should try both before choosing 
which style works best for you. I remember seeing a hand 
carved Greenland paddle once that was actually feathered.

Good Paddling feathered or unfeathered,
Don Dimond 
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