How to Set Your Paddle Feather For Maximum Performance 

Finally, someone who knows what he is talking about 😃

Excellent !!! This makes sooo much more sense rather than the simple air resistance thing. Never understood why that bit of air would matter so much e.g. during recreational kayaking. But not damaging your wrist, this makes realllllly sense - thanks a ton!!

This is a very complete and correct discussion. The only thing not discussed is control hand and non-control hand. The control hand holds the shaft without allowing the shaft to turn or rotate in the hand. The shaft MUST turn in the NON-control hand during the recovery, while both blades are in the air. During this demo the right hand is the control hand, and the shaft is free to rotate in the left non-control hand while both blades are in the air. The only time when the left hand grips the shaft firmly is when the left blade is in the water, during the left side power stroke.

What a great explanation! - thank you.

As a completely beginner, I had no idea, thanks for the information

Best video I’ve found on this subject. Thanks

Excellent explanation and description.

Interesting and well presented / explained. Thanks. I'll try it out...

This is really good thank you, Loved the simplicity of your explanation.

Brilliant explanation, very much appreciated from Lismore NSW Australia.

Thanks for the great explanation

Thank you for breaking that down!

Fantastic info. Just picked up my Itiwit adjustable paddles. This video was ver helpful for me. Thank you for posting

Hi Sam, best explanation I found to understand how to set the paddle feather. Thanks from Germany!

Excelent explanation!

Nicely and competently explained. Thank you.

This is perfectly logical and reasonable. Making it more difficult to use by setting it at 90 degrees because of "less wind resistance" is just ridiculous. But I'm not surprised one bit that the mainstream teaching method tells everybody to do this.

Great explanation, had no idea really .... off to Kayak and test

I liked the explanation and generally agree with the logic, particularly in relation to sweep strokes compared to sprint style strokes where the blade in the water is close to the craft and more vertical.

Great detail

dude great explanation thank you!!

Thanks. I'm new to kayaking and have been using a fixed 65% feathered paddle but just changing to an adjustable. This has helped me understand how to set it up! Thanks again

Great explanations. Thanks very much.

This is brilliant: so helpful. Thank you so much.

I wondered how that worked, thanks!

Thnx. Very informative.

Glad I found this video. I intend to paddle at high angle with the big Werner Corryvreckan blades. Your instructions will help me dial in the best offset for me. Thank you! Sub'd.

great explanation--thanks

Thanks! Helped out a newbie from Alabama...

Thanks for sorting me out bro. Had no idea wtf I was doing. Huge difference now.

Thanks for the explanation. Sea kayaker, high stroke, 65 deg is what I'd settled on too.

Excellent explanation, mate!!! Thanks, I'll try another angle and let you know how it goes.

Stan, so many thanks for making this video! It really helped me to improve my technique!

very nice,thank you!

Great explanation Cheers Jim

Great explanation. I think I finally understand!

I shall get out my paddle later and have a look. Makes me glad in my newbie confusion I opted for a fully adjustable paddle.

Best way i've seen this explained! Cheers bud

Good stuff!

Thanks!

great video

Finally...😊 Thanks matey

Well done ..cheers🍺 Thank you.

Brilliant

Greenland paddle, no feather issues at all. My wrists love it, end of.

Hey, thanks!!!

Thanks so much for video Ben kayak paddling long time I just preferred the normal way to each his own board Chevrolet Harley-Davidson Honda long enjoy

Thanks Mate... Sweet AS..!

Good simple Kiwi Advice. No where else has it been explained that the height of you upper hand depicts the feathering of the lower blade. Cheers mate

So. I was wondering yesterday whilst out on the water for 7 hours fishing, about the 3 paddle positions. This video proves my experiment. I found out as he points out as you'll see. I had also noticed more stroke power in the paddle.

Mind blown!

thx for this..got my canoe paddle done... i was thinking to make a my kayak paddle at 30 degrees.. realizing now that may not be adequate..

Thanks for that. I prefer 0 degrees, but I paddle flat water with a low angle stroke, and feathering always seem to make it more difficult, less efficient, and made my wrists sore. Now I understand why.

New to kayaking (strip built my own) and have wondered about the reason for feathering. The first time out I was set at 0 degree and it seemed off somehow. I reset to 45 degree (my only choices were 45 or 90) and it seemed more natural. I have built a wood paddle at 0 degree (haven't tried it yet) here in the off season and will have to put my thinking cap on to build one with an offset. Thanks for explaining the reason for feathering.

Makes sense and so does Oscar Chalupsky who advocates a zero feather angle. So which way do you go? I've gone from 60 to zero and enjoying the symmetry of zero. How do you rationalise these opposing views?

Спасибо, все предельно ясно и доходчиво.

I made an Aleut paddle with a spine on one face. It self indexes when it hits the water. If you don't have a death grip on your paddle, an Aleut blade will move into the optimum position without feather or any wrist movement high or low angle.

Didn't understand this until now. Thank you. Using a doubled paddle for an inflating Itiwit kayak for 2 people with backpacks, so the boat is kind of wide, depending on the place where you stay in it. I give to the girl the front seat to be narrower and I am taking the back seat, so the boat is bigger near me. One not so serious stroke of mine is equivalent to 3 strokes of hers. I have to feather the water to be sincronus :P

This was super helpful. Thank you. How long should my paddle be?

Here is an alternative view and a demonstration. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-cOZnEPXt5ZE.html The key idea in my demonstration is that with 0 feather, the control hand switches at each stroke (in contrast to the demonstration here that uses a right-hand control 100% of the time). I demonstrate that the hand alignment is exactly the same at 0 feather vs. any other feather angle. Meaning, the feather angle does not mess-up the hand alignment. Also, high angle vs. low angle paddle position does not correlate to the need for different feather angles, it just results in more angle between the planes of the hands at high angle vs. a smaller hand offset a low angle. Both these points I think are a fundamental disagreement with this explanation here :) My take: feather angle choice is not primarily a matter of maintaining anatomically correct hand alignment, nor is it related to the paddle angle vs. the water (high or low angle paddling style). It would be if the "control hand" is 100% control vs. letting the other hand control the blade twist a little or as much as 50% of the time. If you are used to controlling the paddle with one hand only, it takes time to let go off this habit and learn to let both hands alternate control proportionally to your chosen feather angle: at 0 degree feather you get each hand be a control hand exactly half the time; at 60 degree feather one hand is dominant but not fully controlling. Effectively, my take is that any feather angle can be used and still maintain perfect anatomic position of the hands at any paddle angle (high or low angle position). So feathering should be primarily driven by other considerations, IMO, not hand alignment or paddle angle to the water as stated here in this video.

At summer camp got stuck with feathered paddle, got so use to it never used a normal paddle

Makes very good sense. I'm on 30 degrees but I paddle with a low stroke due to shoulder problems.

It also sounds like the adjustable paddles are more adaptable to different paddling enviroments from one trip to the next. One can adjust the angle to suit the types of strokes primarily used on anyone one particular outting and location.

The explanation is mostly right, except that one can perfectly paddle with a 90 degrees feather. I have been doing so for nearly 40 years now, injury free etc. Although I must admit, I use different angles for different types of paddling. Canoepolo is 90 degrees feather as this makes goalkeeping a lot easier. What is missing in the explanation is body rotation. It is not just lifting the hand, the upper body is also rotated, thus moving the top hand across the deck. For a very good explanation of how this is done, have a look at Ivan Lawlers excellent technique series (channel name is Ultimate Kayaks). Oh, and join a club if you can, you will get loads of tips like these! ;-)

Nice. I'm off to sit and tist my fither...

Good information thx . Does this formula also work for a bent shaft paddle ?

Found out on my first kayak test that rotating the paddle automatically when angling it is probably the primary reason for paddle feathering.

Very good! Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I found my feather thru trial and error (30 degs). In a way, does this negate the need for a bent shaft?

Precisely. High angle paddling I use 60deg, later in the day or low angle paddling 45deg.

👍👍👍👍

Half of what you said is right, there is a natural rotation of your arms and wrist as your body turns, and as you lower one arm and put high the other. It's also true, that the angle is dependent from how high/low your arms are, and how strong you rotate your body. So far so good. Now the problem is, that you'll have to do everything on the opposite side too, making the whole rotation to the opposit direction, with a negative angle. There is no way, to avoid rotating your wrists, and you'll have to rotate them more if the angle is higher. Unsurprisingly, you didn't show how your wrist is "not" rotated if you turn to the right side immediately, after you fixed the clamp as you rotated your body left. Why don't you try not fixing the clamp at all, and let the two sides of the paddle turn clockwise and counterclockwise as you move your body and arms to the left and right sides? You'll see how that will really solve the problem of twisting your wrists. Actually you achieve with feathered blades more efficient stokes due to better angle of attack and yes, that boring "less wind resistance" too, but you'll pay with more twisting movements of your wrists as you increase the angle.

Thankyou for the explanation. I like to use wide inflatable kayaks for stability. I am looking to buy a wider paddle (240cm to 250cm width) to avoid fouling the paddle on the sides of the kayak as I paddle. I guess a wider paddle will mean that the paddle stroke will be a bit lower (compared to the shorter paddle I currently use). Does this mean that I would be better with a zero or low feather angle on the paddle?

To support your first argument. Water is almost 800x denser than air, so air resistance is negligible. I've paddled directly into some pretty stiff, maybe 20 knot, winds. I've feathered a paddle once in 14 years, by mistake in a predawn launch. (Which is interesting because without knowing my blades were 10-15 degrees offset I just adapted to it, When I caught my mistake and went to my usual zero-no feather, and that took a dozen strokes to readapt.) 2:26 "The answer is to do this with your wrist." That's why I don't feather my paddle. I don't claim expertise on feathering or say it's wrong, I've just never seen any reason to do it. Do I have a hold hand and a loose hand? I don't think so. Your video would be a lot more effective if you were in your kayak on the water. I think at one point you had your left blade feathered in the opposite direction.

Cool video, what are your thoughts on switching feather between boats? I find myself in freestyle boats 90% of the time so I use 30 degrees as it is a good balance between the need for back strokes, stalls etc, while still being able to forward paddle. Then when I jump in my creek boat I keep 30 as the familiarity in a whitewater environment probably outweighs any efficiency (how many forward strokes but you take in a row creeking anyway?). I have access to sea kayaks tho and thinking of getting more into them, would you say running 60 is a better option there?

What do you think about self-feathering paddles? as at: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-pV6JpuVJbWo.html

How much you rotate your body will also change the required angle. Your body was square on to the camera to do the video but would probably be more rotated in practice. Even more so if you were racing.

left or right feather?

This is useful information. But it should have been mentioned that to "dial in" your appropriate feather angle, the control upper hand (right in this video) needs to be aligned with its blade before neutralizing the wrist to find the best angle. Knuckles of control hand should be aligned with the top of the blade.

I’ve just started kayaking I’m self teaching myself I keep spinning round 180 degrees when I’m paddling I had my paddle set at zero degrees im hoping a paddle adjustment will remedy this,! Thanks

As a kayak fisher in a relatively wide sit-on-top, a shallower stroke is inevitable, hence a much smaller degree is preferred?

Fither?

Goo info but you didn’t mention “lift” in the airborne blade catching maximum destabilising effect around 45 degrees....

but what happens when you dip your right side?

this really looked like you were on to something until i noticed you were not rotating. When i tried it sitting in my seat my hand does not travel "across my body" to create that natural twist you are referring to because i have been taught to paddle with my abs and not my arms

Ta

Oscar Chalupsky in his brilliant surfski clinic at ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-OLT0l2qf3AQ.html suggests that, with a modern wing paddle, zero degrees is the most efficient because that way you're ready to brace on both sides. Given you want a symmetrical stroke, I can't see why there would be any advantage to feathering any other way. Except if you're very experienced at doing it that way and your muscle memory will fight you if you try to change it suddenly. Chalupsky observes that his zero-feather students progress much faster than those with any larger feather. And, no offense intended, I think Chalupsky has sufficient credentials to back his opinion over this one.

I call it offset.

how is it neutral to favour one wrist over the other? !!!!!

Thank you, just started, and all rentals are at 0

im confused...im new surfski paddler to the sport...the high wrist/arm position in a proper stroke is fixed...your body rotation moves the paddle...your top hand should not move across your body...top hand remains fixed util the paddle exits...I find this all such an absurdly confusing subject...I paddle 15 degree or zero degree and find no ergonomic issues...I suppose complexity of various paddler "style"....but, when teaching paddle stroke, you teach a certain"fixed" form perhaps? zero degree is nice because it makes newbs doing brace stroke easier...many surfski coaches now seem to be asking newbs to keep zero degree for this reason so as to make bracing on either side (important) easier...many pros now say that the reason preference exist now has far more to do with dogma? Im new and am just baffled by the buffet of opinions lol..

When Oscar Chalupaky says 0° feather is the way to go for new paddlers I'll take that to the bank.

Who woulda new .... ill be going home and checking and adjusting my paddle .... shit i think mine is set up at 0 ... JAJAJAJAJAJA NooB

60 degrees and leave it alone.

This is only for a very high aggressive paddle style its not for all kayak situations. You make it sound as if you aren't paddling this way you are doing it wrong.

0 degree. I don't use top hand much

"piddle feethah?"