RE: [Paddlewise] wing theory

"But now I want to buy a paddle for my wife.  she has fibromyalgia
and often endures painful flareups of her hands, wrists, and forearms.

I want to buy her a light paddle that places minimal stress on her body.
However, she's also quite strong, and I don't want to buy her something
too
"wimpy" and have her wish she had something a little more powerful."

Hi all,
 Lots of great paddles out there, but I can tell you that I find myself
coming back to my wooden Greenland paddle again and again. A couple of
points about it worth mentioning, especially in regards to your query:

1. Paddle is by design unfeathered, thus no chance of rotational
injuries from the necessary paddle twist of feathered ones.
2. Paddle is very light weight, and as there are no mass points on each
end, the throw weight is very easy to manage.
3. I found it extremely easy to learn to paddle using it, no real
learning curve to speak of.
4. I find it to be by far the easiest on my wrist and hands, yet if I
want to move out, I can accelerate and move quickly using it, with no
trouble (I hit 5.9 MPH today and held it for several minutes with no
problem).
5. Because of it's design (it's basically an uncambered, high aspect
ratio wing) how much effort you want to put into paddling it is up to
you-- paddle a bit harder and with higher RPM if you're in a hurry,
paddle with less force and lower RPM if you want to relax. (I know that
sounds like any other paddle, but anyone who's tried a Greenland paddle
will know what I mean by this.)

Mine is a wooden Feathercraft (not sure who really makes it) but I know
there are several good makers out there, as well as plenty of tutorials
on how to make your own. I'm just not handy enough with woodworking
tools, but it doesn't sound hard to make one for someone with a little
more skill than I.

OK, my 2 cents worth.
OBTW, many Kayak shops will let you try different paddles on a sort of
test drive basis, just ask around.

R/
Kevin


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