I had the pleasure of meeting Alexandra Conover at the Paddlers and Snow Walkers Conference (October 11-13) and of taking her workshop on the North Woods Paddle Stroke. A GREAT explainer!
The North Woods Paddle stroke is designed to use the entire body to power the stroke. By spreading the effort across the major muscles. no one set gets overworked. Positioning the body at an angle to the stroke also takes advantage of the natural swinging motion used in many sports (she uses baseball as an example).
One note - the stroke is independent of the (beautiful) paddle she is using. She makes this point pretty dramatically in the video and emphasized it during the workshop as well.
This is a great video and a great stroke to learn.
P.S.: The presence of folks like her at these conferences are the reason we are so enthusiastic about the Paddlers and Snow Walkers event (besides, the food is really good).
Click on the photo, or HERE to watch the video.