Re: [Paddlewise] Feathered or not?

Mike Euritt wrote:
> 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

I have always paddled unfeathered. It just seems so much easier on the 
wrists -- possibly the result of my doing the 'feathered' thing all 
wrong when I tried it.

I have also moved to a bent shaft paddle -- something I find also to 
be easier on the wrists -- and the hand positions on the paddle 
encourage (I think) an unfeathered approach.

I tried a Greenland paddle once. There's a certain amount of truth in 
the "Old dog, new tricks" saying. I found that it drove me nuts trying 
to manage the "slide the hands" trick as I went from a stroke on one 
side to the other. Maybe a longer paddle where I didn't need to 
constantly move my hands would have been better.

For me, the unfeathered paddle has at least two advantages. The first 
being that it's very difficult to put the paddle together in the wrong 
feathered angle (leading to a "whoopsie" moment when the blade slices 
through the water instead of catching and pushing water). The second 
that it is easier my *my* wrists.

I suspect that it might also be easier for people learning to roll, 
since the two ends of the paddle are aligned and there is no mental 
gymnastics involved in orienting the far end of the paddle to skim 
along the surface. However, since I cannot roll, and since my learning 
attempts have been few and far between, this last point is only a 
supposition.

-- 
   Darryl
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