[Paddlewise] Not About Whales

I paddle unfeathered, mostly because I prefer it after having tried both
ways, but I wonder if there isn't an aspect of technique that is a
strong factor. Perhaps some of the more experienced can advise.

It seemed natural to me when I tried paddling feathered that the way to
control the paddle was by moving the forearms, and not the wrists. Raise
the opposite arm and the paddle naturally rotates to the proper angle.

It also seemed that paddle blade angle would thus dictate how high you
rasied the arms, and hence the the actual paddling angle. 

Now, I like to vary my stoke a lot, ranging from almost horizontal to a
nearly vertical stroke when I'm accelerating hard- pretty much identical
to my racing canoe stroke. The amount of torso rotation I use also
varies with the stroke. All these factors would seem to dictate
unfeathered paddles. Comments?

-- mike
---------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Edelman   mje_at_spamcop.net
http://www.foldingkayaks.org (nomadics)
http://www.findascope.com (choosing a telescope)

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