Gene Cosloy wrote:

would't the learning curve be quicker in
learning to brace quickly either side if you used an unfeathered
paddle? Same goes for learning to roll?

Absolutely. Learning these skills with an unfeathered paddle all but
eliminates the "on side, off side" phenomenon. Nearly all of the people
I've met who've had trouble learning to roll on both sides were using
feathered paddles. Most people have much less trouble learning to roll
on both sides when the technique is an exact mirror image. It's much
less confusing than having to think about "I'm rolling on my right side,
so I have to hold my wrist in this position."

Once one learns to roll or brace, the technique becomes automatic. It's
getting to that stage that's much more difficult with a feathered paddle.

Michael's method is very interesting and makes a lot of sense if you're
going to paddle feathered. Unfortunately, up until now I've never known
or heard of anyone who teaches that way.

One final word of caution. If you intend to paddle feathered, I suggest
that you learn to brace and roll with a feathered paddle. Learning with
an unfeathered paddle, then going out with your paddle feathered is a
good way to screw yourself up if you get into a capsize situation.

On 14-Jun-2004, Brian Nystrom wrote:

Michael's method is very interesting and makes a lot of sense if you're
going to paddle feathered. Unfortunately, up until now I've never known
or heard of anyone who teaches that way.

It's been discussed on Paddlewise and is probably relatively new in teaching.
I don't think you'll find it in any organization's orthodox teaching method
yet.

It's the sort of thing I realized I was doing without being taught. The
idea of using my right hand to control the left blade when sculling seems
rather odd when you think about it. Ditto controlling the offside blade
with the onside hand in an offside roll. By using this mirror control
for things like rolls, it gives you a mirror approach as you suggest
without switching to an unfeathered paddle.

Mike

Michael Daly wrote:

On 14-Jun-2004, Brian Nystrom wrote:


Michael's method is very interesting and makes a lot of sense if you're
going to paddle feathered. Unfortunately, up until now I've never known
or heard of anyone who teaches that way.


It's been discussed on Paddlewise and is probably relatively new in teaching.
I don't think you'll find it in any organization's orthodox teaching method
yet.

It's the sort of thing I realized I was doing without being taught. The
idea of using my right hand to control the left blade when sculling seems
rather odd when you think about it. Ditto controlling the offside blade
with the onside hand in an offside roll. By using this mirror control
for things like rolls, it gives you a mirror approach as you suggest
without switching to an unfeathered paddle.

It makes sense to me. I wonder if a lot of people aren't doing this
without realizing it.