[Paddlewise] Feathered or not?

a variation on the paddle theme we have.
When it comes to paddle feathering, from the time I had my first intro
class, I have been handed feathered paddles. Supposedly easier into a head
wind, but someone noted a feathered paddle can catch the wind when the wind
is on the beam where an unfeathered will not. I had a gust catch
me unexpectedly once that felt like the paddle was about to be ripped away
from my loose grip.

As I've developed my skills, I've used Brent Reitz Forward Stroke video. If
you have seen the  video, he has an "Aha!" moment when he was struggling
with tendinitis, which was caused by his bending his wrist backwards.

My last paddle I was working on forward stroke technique when I had that
same discovery, my right wrist bends back for the catch on the left. I tried
a couple of things but either the right blade or left didn't catch squarely
w/o my wrist bending. The only way I could not bend my wrist was to take the
feathering out of the paddle. I intend to do a few hours worth of paddling,
and bracing practice to see how it feels.

Does anyone have any thoughts, am I loosing some benefit, or gaining some
other? It has always struck me as odd that the GP's are not feathered and
the storm paddle was a better solution to strong winds than feathering. I
think I see a GP in my future.

Mike
San Rafael, CA
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