Bobo, et.al.,

Stuff deleted:

Since I'm getting older and there's little river water, I decided to
get a sea kayak with a Werner Camano 60 degree feathered paddle. Over
the past three weekends, I've gone out paddling for 90 to 180 minutes.
I usually go non-stop because I like to get into a cadence. After
the second weekend, I began to feel some soreness in my right
(control) wrist. After the third weekend, the pain became a bit more
noticeable. The pain is in the inside of the right wrist where the
pulse is felt. Before I do some damage, I need to know the
following:

(1) Is the location of the pain something that I should be concerned
about or will it work itself out?


Yes, you should be concerned. This is often where carpal/tunnel pain shows
itself. You do not wish to aggravate it any further.

(2) Am I paddling wrong? I use a high angle paddle stroke that is
common in whitewater kayaking, but I notice that a lot of sea
kayakers use a low angle paddle. The low angle paddle doesn't seem
very efficient, but is it the answer to my wrist pain?


As others point out, I don't think the angle is the issue. WW paddling
allows for a lot of short bursts of activity followed by moments of rest.
Sea kayaking requires a pretty continuous stroke which repeatedly stresses
the joints over long periods. As Mary points out, you have more
opportunities to cause repetitive stress injuries. For this reason, what
seems like a "relaxed" grip to a WW boater, isn't for a sea kayaker. You can
open your hand on the "pushing" (for lack of a better word) side of the
stroke completely, controlling the paddle between thumb and palm, only. This
will give your a long period of relaxation for the joint. Also, ignore the
"control" concept of the feathered paddle. Alternate the gripping hand and
spread the stress over both. This may not allieviate the stresses
completely, but it does ensure that one wrist isn't receiving all the strain
on every stroke (you can induce carpal tunnel injuries just by cocking the
wrist and gripping lightly, hence the number of store checkout clerks with
the problem and it is always the "control" wrist for them, too).

(3) For those who recommend that I go to a non-feathered paddle, it
might be hard since it'll really screw up my whitewater paddling. I
thought about perhaps trying a 45 degree paddle, but I've only been
able to find sea kayak paddles that are either 0 degrees or 60
degrees. Anyone have experience with a crankshaft sea kayak paddle
who had similar wrist pain?


The feathered paddle is pretty useless for sea kayaking and I doubt its
utility in WW paddling as well. As one writer (Dowd?) states, the only time
the feathered paddle is beneficial is when the wind is directly from the
front (a rare occurance). The trailing paddle blade, in this case, must push
against the wind to move forward. In every other instance, the non-feathered
blade is better. Winds from the side or front or rear quarter tend to lift
the blade as it exits the water, potentially causing sufficient lift to flip
the kayaker. I gave up on the feathered paddle in just such conditions and
never went back. From the rear, the non-feathered paddle functions like a
small sail, improving one's progress. It took some practice to convert, but
now that I use an unfeathered blade, I found it virtually impossible to go
back to feathered this past week on a four day paddle down the Sac. river
when in a headwind.

In any case, I don't believe the additional risk of injury to the wrists is
suffient to warrant using a feathered paddle. If you can convert, fine. If
you can't, look for methods of lowering the amount of wrist cocking you must
do.

Responses to one or all of my questions would be appreciated.


Rick