[Paddlewise] How do you hold your paddle?

David Seng wrote:

snip
>   So how about the rest of you - right side up, or upside down?<

Depends on the paddle. Most of the time right side up. But if I was paddling
in New Zealand it would be upside down (but so would I). The sun would go
the wrong way across the sky and if you drive on the right side of the road
you meet a lot of traffic that tells you your on the wrong side. You can
however, buy artificial banana flavored milk, cereal and candy marshmallows
which makes up for a lot of the other things that are upside down at least
if artificial banana is your favorite flavor in the whole world and you are
starved for it living in backward North America. But I digress.
I have used paddles that were easier to use upside down. They were spooned
and had a tendency to spin in ones grip if not held tightly enough. By using
them upside down the spin is always initiated to the outside and you know
which way to correct for in advance. If the asymmetrical spooned blade is
used the way it was designed to be used you don't know if the paddle will
start its spin (as it slides to the side around the spoon) inward or outward
and so is much harder to control because you must wait for the feedback to
know which way to correct.
The reason for asymmetrical blades is to keep the area equal on each side of
the blade so no matter how shallow the blade is buried if power is applied
to it then it won't want to twist in your hand from uneven pressure on each
side. If you don't put on the power until the blade is totally buried and
cut power before removing the blade from the water you will get no benefit
from asymmetrical paddle blades used design side up.
One paddler I know uses her paddle upside down because she says she likes
the extra kick she feels it adds to the end of her stroke. She is really
mostly lifting water and feeling the point not lift out of the water until
last (and later than if she used it as designed where it is again putting a
twist on the shaft) and she is working harder than she needs to to get the
same speed. Some people like to feel they are working hard. This is sort of
like someone telling me they like a long paddle because they can feel how
well it is gripping the water by how hard it is to pull. They are confusing
their perception of effort with the idea that the effort is going into some
useful purpose which is not necessarily the case.
David, is your paddle very spooned? If so you may be doing the best thing.
Or maybe the next best thing, buying a paddle that doesn't want to keep
spinning in your grip would be better. What make and model is it?  What is
it you like better about holding it upside down? Is this the case with other
models you have tried as well? Which ones?
Matt Broze
http://www.marinerkayaks.com

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