Brian,
Thanks very much for the discussion. I've got many things to ponder now...paddles, sliders....rolling with out a paddle??? I wouldn't have thought about the "shifting hand positions" while paddling (as it relates to the ergodynamic ones being sold). Though after you mentioned it, keeping the hands relaxed is what I try to practice (it's in all the manuals). Right now, I think I need to think about all this...before I start drilling cutting or gluing. I like the way the sliders influence the bungie pattern on your deck. The Greenland style paddle will eat up less strips if I use it in conjunction with a halved closet pole with a spacer piece in it...the spacer piece then becomes the base for the blades....of course, I say this before I have a chance to research the "correct" methods, as outlined in the reading list in that link. Lot's of fun to you sir,
Bill Cruz

: Well, that was the original purpose for them. Nowadays, they're used as a
: rolling aid, more or less a stepping stone on the way to a hand roll.

: For rolling and sculling braces, yes. They also work fine for high and low
: braces, but the technique is a bit different than with a euro paddle. With
: a GP, most rolling/bracing maneuvers are performed with an extended
: paddle, by sliding the off-side blade through the off-side hand. You can
: to a screw roll or even a C-C with a GP, but it's not designed for it.

: It take a little while to get a feel for the paddle and the techniques that
: go with it, but once you do, it's every bit as versatile as a euro paddle.
: Its only real shortcoming is in tight quarters and shallow water, such as
: in a rock garden, where you can't get much of the blade into the water.

: I have no experience with them. The one thing that bothers me about bent
: shaft paddles is that they largely restrict you to one hand position. When
: I used a euro, I would often extend the paddle or offset it to one side,
: depending on conditions. Bent shafts eliminate much of that versatility.
: If you don't have wrist problems, there's little or no advantage to a bent
: shaft paddle.