(PeteCresswell) wrote:

Anybody care to dispute the 45-degree rationale?

Support it?

I'll do both.

First, the support, sort of. While the optimum angle may be debatable
and may well vary from one paddler to the next, in principle, IF you use
a control hand on the paddle - which is mandatory with feathered paddles
- normal torso rotation will also rotate the paddle. However, many
people use much higher or lower feather angles than 45 degrees and
achieve this result, so the rep is out to lunch in that regard.

Now for the dispute. With an unfeathered paddle, there is NO control
hand (or two, depending on how you prefer to look at it) and no twisting
of the wrists at all. The rep's assertion simply doesn't apply. There is
no more "natural" paddle, nor one with less wrist twisting, than an
unfeathered paddle. Your own experience bears this out.

The only people I ever see claiming otherwise are those who have been
paddling feathered and are trying to paddle unfeathered while using a
single control hand. That doesn't work well, but the problem is in their
technique, not the paddle.