Michael Daly wrote:
On 13-Mar-2006, Bill Tuthill wrote:


BTW, paddling yesterday with a 60 degree feather, I noticed that my wrists
rotated not at all, neither control hand, nor left hand.


I assume you use a fairly high stroke (steep shaft angle). I get the same with
50-60 degrees with a high stroke. For a low stroke, I drop it down to about
25-30 degrees (advantage in having a fully adjustable paddle - but the reason
I don't know the exact feather angles is that I don't measure them)


Borrowing a 45 degree paddle from a friend, I noticed that my right wrist
was bending down during each stroke. This motion is less comfortable
for me (more likely to cause tendonitis?) than bending up.


You have observed what I have tried to explain here recently but what
seems lost on most paddlers. Similarly, if you use a low stroke with an
unfeathered paddle, then your control hand does the same - your wrist
bends down to set the blade position on the non-control side.

It does not do that if you don't use a control hand. YOU DO NOT NEED A
CONTROL HAND WITH AN UNFEATHERED PADDLE. Using a control hand with an
unfeathered paddle is counterproductive. The only people who have the
problem you describe are those who either learned on a feathered paddle
or still use one, and cannot get past the tendency to use a control
hand. Once you give it up, the problem goes away.