: I am about to start shaping my latest Greenland Paddle and most that I have
: seen have oval cross-section shafts.

: However I have seen several rectangular shafts in person and in an article
: about paddle making. Supposedly a rectangular shaft helps maintain the
: proper angle while paddling. Any opinions?

Chris,

First, consider how you will be holding the paddle. Instead of placing all of your fingers on the shaft, it is very common in SW Greenland to have only your thumbs and forefingers holding the shaft. The remaining fingers are draped over the roots of the paddle blades. Holding the paddle blades in this manner will cause the paddle to tilt forward slightly, and otherwise provide excellent orientation because you can feel the orientation of the paddle blade at all times. This will easily allow you to control the "paddle angle". If you adopt this approach then the length of the paddle shaft is critical. I have posted on determining the shaft length rather recently, if you missed it let me know and I can re-post.

Shape the shaft to be comfortable. You will see a variety of shaft cross-sections in Greenland. Often the shape in the center of the shaft is different than at the shoulders, where you actually hold the paddle as described above. I knock the corners off my paddle shafts and start shaping until it feels comfortable in the hand. I find a rounded-rectangular shaft, of a thicker diameter than a typical oval "Euro" paddle, to be very comfortable. Experiment as YMMV.

Gail Ferris has some paddle surveys at the link below.

Greg Stamer
Orlando, Florida