Hello Nick,

I find that with a properly made and sized Greenland paddle that the correct paddle angle is very easy to maintain. I think many paddlers have problems when they use commercial designs that place all fingers on the shaft. This encourages a vertical blade at the catch rather than a slight forward tilt. Some of these blades do take some effort to maintain the angle.

I am a dyed-in-the-wool minimalist and would not care to add hardware to such a simple, elegant paddle to make up for a problem that could be easily solved by more attention to proper paddle fit and shape. Also consider that your hands slide and grasp the blades of a Greenland paddle for rolling and bracing so any hardware that you add would have to accomodate this. For a simpler solution, consider that some traditional blades have a ridge running down the center of the blade to assist in reducing flutter.

Your post and a previous one in this thread makes the assumption that by angling the blade you must be losing thrust. From this I assume that you are considering only drag. If angling the blade helps to enhance lift then it is quite possible that by angling the blade more thrust is created. George Gronseth has long said that the difference between a vertical blade and the angled blade is akin to a paddlewheel versus a propeller. Other folks have claimed that the lift created by a sail is a better anology. I don't have a degree in fluid-dynamics or engineering so I will simply experiment with the paddles on the water and leave the physics to others to debate.

Greg Stamer