The lateral movement of the blade, as John Heath suggests, sheds the vortex off to one side, preventing flutter. You can see the vortex, a little tornado-shaped cone of air twirling off the tip of the blade, its pointed end trailing away, pointing toward the bow. As the blade sheds the vortex, it moves into "solid" water, away from the air driven in at the catch. By contrast, in what Maligiaq refers to as the "beginner’s stroke," the blade does not slice into the water, but stabs into it end-on. Since the blade doesn’t enter the water quickly, it is only partially buried when you pull it back. Air driven into the water by the tip swirls in a pair of vortices as the water wraps around both edges of the blade, pulling more air from the surface as the paddle is pulled through the water. With so much air on the back side of the blade, the paddle does not have a good grip in the water.

At the end of Maligiaq’s stroke, the downward pressure created by the angle of the blade keeps the blade buried in the water to the very end of the stroke. At the release, the pulling hand does not lift up, as it does in the beginner’s stroke, but it pushes forward. The blade slices out of the water, moving up as it moves forward.

The overall effect of Maligiaq’s stroke is to set the blade in the water and to keep a solid purchase on the water throughout the stroke. By keeping air away from the blade, the grip of the paddle in the water is noticeably firmer, and the energy of the kayaker pushes the kayak forward, rather than dragging the paddle backward through the water.

The configuration of the Greenland paddle shaft makes it easy to set the appropriate angle of the blade. The shaft is relatively short compared to recreational paddles, and the blades long, so the grip of the paddle is at the root of the blade (where it meets the shaft). Two fingers on each hand wrap around the root of the blade. By pushing on the top edge of the blade, instead of on the shaft, the paddle naturally twists, and the blade settles into what seems to be the proper angle without your having to pay much attention to it.

This technique would be difficult to maintain with a standard recreational paddle, or even a "Greenland-style" paddle with a long shaft. Without having your finger wrapped around the root of the blade, you’d have to grip the shaft tightly and work hard to set the blade at the proper angle.

Switching from the beginner’s stroke to the angled stroke was very much like switching between a standard paddle and a wing paddle. The increase in the pull on the paddle is readily apparent.