Bryan, et. al.,

A little side note is that most carpal tunnel injuries are caused by
feathered paddles, though I did not put this into my original post. The
cocking of the wrist necessary to adjust the paddle for the power hand also
causes tendons to rub against the carpal tunnel. This isn't particularly
life-threatening, but it can be quite serious. Unfeathered paddles allow you
to have a straight wrist, hence reducing the odds of injury.

Rick

Bill Tuthill wrote:

Brian Nystrom wrote:

Dowd (I believe it was he) wrote that only in a
direct headwind does a feathered paddle produce any advantage.

Defintely words of wisdom and absolutely correct. When you consider that
when paddling into a headwind, the paddler is in the strongest, most
stable position, the difference that a feathered paddle makes is not
that great. Also, feather angles less than 90 degrees will cause the
paddle to lift or dive in a headwind. Overall, I found feathering to be
a disadvantage.


Some people think a feathered paddle (45-60 degrees) feels more natural
during the paddle stroke, and blades are always in a nearly ideal
position
for offside bracing.

If you think about it, what could be more natural than a paddle that's
perfectly symmetric? The motion is identical from one side to the other.
By definition, you MUST do something asymmetric in order to feather a
paddle. Proper feathering technique must be taught, but anyone can use
an unfeathered paddle with little or no instruction.

Feathered paddles can be shorter (due to different
technique used) and therefore lighter.

How do you figure that? There's no difference in technique that would
require a different length paddle, one way or the other. You seem to be
assuming that there's a difference in paddle placement, paddle angle,
torso rotation, etc. when there isn't.

It's individual preference.

True.

On 15-Jun-2004, "Rick" wrote:

A little side note is that most carpal tunnel injuries are caused by
feathered paddles,

Caused by improperly feathered paddles. If the feather angle is set
to your technique, your wrist doesn't have to move significantly.
However, many paddles are designed for large feather angles.

Brian B asked how many let their variable feather paddles find their
own angle - he found 22 degrees for himself. I set mine to about
30 degrees for low stroke and 50 degrees for a high stroke. A
lot of commercial paddles have conventionally been set to 75-90
degrees, though smaller angles are now available. At 75 degrees,
you'd have to use your wrist to adjust the offside blade.

My Greenland-style paddles are unfeathered and require angle correction
with each stroke. However, due to the way they are held, that
adjustment is done with my thumb and fingers more than my wrist.

Mike