I am not particularly experienced with the Aleut designs and look forward to using them more in the future. There is a host of native designs other than just Aleut and Greenland to consider. FWIW, I like the symmetry of the Greenland designs, they behave predictably no matter how the paddle is oriented and for braces or rolls using either side of the blade. I also appreciate that kayaking in Greenland remains alive and there are highly skilled Greenlanders who continue to share their kayaking knowledge. Unfortunately, I do not believe that the same can be said about the Aleuts, but would be very happy to be wrong about this.

: In general the Greenland paddle has blades with a symmetric diamond shaped
: section progressively more flattened and widened toward the blade tips.
: The blade tips are round. The blade edges flow smoothly into the loom.

Two common styles of Greenland paddles are shouldered an unshouldered (described above). The shouldered paddles have an abrupt transition from the loom to the blades, and are held with only the thumb and forefingers around the loom with the remaining fingers draped over the blades. This is favored by some paddlers as it naturally causes the top edge of the paddle to cant forward (a popular paddling stroke variant), plus adds orientation from contacting the blades and "indexing" (centering by feel) when using sliding strokes and other techniques.

: Length is about 86” This shorter length gives the paddler more power. Most
: of the Greenland style paddles I’ve handled have had fairly heavy
: inflexible cross section which does not appeal to me. I have not used a
: Greenland paddle for any length of time.

You will find examples of very flexible and very stiff Greenland paddles. To risk overgeneralization, solid paddles made from vertical grain lumber are usually stiff, strong, and very resistant to warping, paddles made from flatsawn are weaker but more flexible. Flex is a very personal thing and needs to be tuned to your stroke. I often paddle unladen and fairly quick (4 knots or so) and prefer a fairly stiff paddle. These feel as if they load up and give a lively "kick" during the exit.

: Most Greenland paddlers like an oil finish. This must be continually
: maintained to keep the paddle from absorbing water.

There is very little end-grain exposed on a Greenland paddle and they don't absorb appreciable water in actual use. I oil primarily for appearance. A new oil finish does need to be applied regularly, but once established, you only need to oil once a year or when the paddle looks scuffed up. An oft repeated schedule is oil once a day for the first week, once a week for the first month, once a month for a year, and then yearly, so oiling is not for everyone. It sounds like a lot of work, and perhaps it is, but it takes less than five minutes per application and I find it enjoyable.

A laminated paddle might have much different requirements for finish, but for a solid Greenland paddle it is perfectly OK to apply no finish at all. Very few kayakers in Greenland apply a finish to their paddles, but the paddles do tend to get a good coating of seal-oil from their paddling mitts, which are liberally treated with the oil.

Greg Stamer