: Haven't noticed anybody using the term but now that I have played with and
: tweaked a greenland style paddle some two months I find myself considering
: it an application of the wing principle.

: That is, with the canted blade technique one gets the bite from the pressure
: differential of the flows over the two blade faces, just as with an
: aeroplane wing. An ancient, or maybe a glider's wing.

: What do you think? I even made mine slightly flatter on one side to increase
: this effect and it worked, giving me a wing/dihedral blade of 2.75 inches.
: One side has a harder, the other a smoother bite.

Some native paddles were made with definite "power face" sides. In sculling techniques there is no question that the paddle is being used as a wing and the asymetrical shape may offer some lift advantage. However, during the forward stroke there does not appear to be fast enough lateral motion for the paddle to really act in a fully "wing-like" manner, even for modern wing paddles. This doesn't mean an asymetrical section shape isn't still an advantage. After all, the modern wing paddle benefits from a foil shaped section, you can expect a Greenland paddle to gain some advantage as well. I suppose the fact that it creates one "right" side could also be a dissadvantage in some situations.