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I recently bought a new paddle, and I got a zero degree Werner Stikine (197) that I plan to use for both playboating and creeking. However, I did a fair amount of research, and found an article by Snyder that explained the main reason for feather as best as I've seen it. I'll have a hard time explaining it well, but basically from what I gather the optimal feather for any paddle is the one that puts your hands at the right angle for pushing with your control hand while paddling with the opposite blade. So for instance, if you're right handed, like most of us, then the optimal feather would be the one that, when you're putting in a stroke on your left, puts your right hand at the best angle to get a good push. You can automatically get that optimal angle with your non-control hand, since you can slide it around to wherever you want it.
Still, I think that trading a little optimal alignment of my wrist bones is worth it to get a zero degree paddle that I can use all around, plus being able to back deck roll in either direction, plus the stability in stalls/cartwheels it offers, plus the slightly more intuitive paddle awareness when rolling/bracing.
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Paddle Feather as I understand it: New 
BoaterTalk 
