View topic - Right side left side

I'm right handed and always(for whitewater) consider that my left side is my onside. Lately, because I sit and write a lot, I've got some issues with tendonitis in my right arm. How many folks are right handed and paddle on the right side? just a thought, maybe I should become ambidextrous.

I'm right handed and my right side is my stronger paddling side. I try to mix it up, but when it's gotta be done correctly, I usually paddle on the right.
Bryan

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ColdspringPaddling.com

Yep. Me too.

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In the Spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours.
Mark Twain

Hi erich, when soloing my on-side is usually my strong side, which for me is paddling left (I'm right handed). Occasionally I need to switch sides due to water conditions, but go back to paddling on the left side (my strong side) fairly soon.

Around some paddling pros I've heard the phrase :

Your on-side is always the side at which your lower hand is closer to the gunwale. I will paddle some offside stokes when soloing, but my offside strokes are a bit weak and I often find myself in a 36" beam boat so the reach is quite a distance.

When paddling tandem my partner and I switch sides once a day in flat-water and more often in white-water, especially in CIII+.

Cheers,

Darryl H

Right handed, paddle right.

I can paddle on the left just fine if I'm a bow paddler in a tandem but for solo or stern (flat or ww) it's on the right.

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"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915

Right handed...paddle on the right!!!

Why don't you add a poll? I'd be interested to see the results!!!

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Dave

"The way of a canoe is the way of the wilderness, and of a freedom almost forgotten." Sigurd Olson, 1956

That sounds about right? That said.......So too often you see white water paddlers switching sides while dealing with offside situations in moving water. For some reason I tend to see this practice more down in the states. Some of those paddlers are very good and tend to have no issues while paddling.

But I still maintain a paddler should develop a strong offside stroke.

I'm right handed but paddle left.

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Al Greve http://www.canoewateradventuring.ca South Western Ontario's canoeing specialist

I am left handed, but write with my right hand.
I paddle on my right almost all of the time either solo or tandem..
My tandem partner (wife) is also left handed and paddles on her left.
When I pick my canoe up to portage it, I always approach it using my right hand on the gunnel closest to me ( LHS of canoe) and reach across to the RHS gunnel with my left hand. The repetitive nature of doing it that way all the time, has loosened the thwart and wooden gunnel strips along the RHS of the ABS canoe at the centre. Does anyone else have that problem or is it just we lefty's who do that?

I can't pin it down: I'm right handed and prefer to paddle on the left - but that has changed over time: different partners have made me switch, more than once. And lately, just wear and tear on my joints seems more important than preference.

It's a good strategy to practise paddling on the side you'd prefer not to. One day, wind conditions or a partner with limitations will force you to do that anyways. And at that time it may matter that you are reasonably good at it....

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“What is the good of having a nice house without a decent planet to put it on?” - Thoreau

I am left handed and paddle right. In a solo boat I paddle exclusively on the right with the use of off side strokes. In a tandem boat I occassionally switch and paddle on the left. All it takes is practice to learn how to paddle well on the other side if your right arm is bothering you.

I don't think this is a paddle side issue, but more likely how you hold your paddle. I used to have tendonitis from paddling, but Bob Foote got me to change my style and it went away in a weekend and never came back!

Take a look at Bob's website at http://www.bobfoote.com/bob/tips/loosenyourgrip.htm

Now, if something could be done about arthritis. . . .

I am mostly ambidextrous. I write and eat left handed. Play most sports right-handed (squash, baseball, hockey, etc). Hit a nail with a hammer equally well left or right. Paddling on both sides of a canoe also seems equally "correct" to me.

cheers
dave

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Dave W
"Everyone must believe in something. I believe I'll go canoeing" - Henry David Thoreau

Thing I noticed about the switch paddlers is even they have a prefered side..... in a crux move they will switch instead of using a cross but have a side they favor..... am I not seeing everything?

Hubby is a right side paddler. He's suppose to be left handed but got re-engineered when he learned to write. He shoots a hockey stick left catches right and I forget now if he's a left or right tennis player......anyways, he has a hard time paddling left.

I'm a pure lefthander

I had some cranky elbow and mid arm loss of strenght. I found I was gripping the paddle shaft just to darn hard; almost in a muscle lock. I'm wondering if one of those close cell foam in a very thin layer around your shaft grip will ease the tension any?
It seams to work for kids with writing and printing problems?

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http://campfireblues.wetpaint.com/
home of the opinionated old farts!

I find that when you begin to experience tendonitus or some other "over use" injury, often a small change in the way you do things makes all the difference. For example, I experienced a severe case of tendonitus in my right elbow a couple years back. It became so bad that I could not use the steering wheel on my car with my right arm due to pain. My solution, at work I switched my computer mouse from the right side of my keyboard to the left. A couple weeks later there was a significant improvement, and about 6 weeks later the tendonitus was totally gone. Another benefit is that I am now "mouse-bedextrous".

cheers
dave

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Dave W
"Everyone must believe in something. I believe I'll go canoeing" - Henry David Thoreau

I'm right-handed in my normal life, and generally in my paddling life. Essentially, I'm like Recped, I can paddle on both sides pretty well (infact I think my forward stroke is more efficient on the left, but it's not as strong as the right) But when paddling gets technical (a twisty creek, running a drop, playing with freestylye, usually when surfing a wave) I prefer to paddle on the right and rely on cross strokes on the left. But, I paddle on both sides and I can cross to the right too, because sometimes a rapid, or a strainer on a stream just makes paddling on the opposite side alot better (like running a slot where there is no water on your onside if you paddle on your dominant side...have you seen the segment with Al Greve, Paul Mason, and Mark Scriver on the Moose?) I usually try to accomodate my partner's preference when paddling tandem. These days, that seems to be in the stern.

So I prefer the concept of staying on one side and crossing, but hey if the water dictates paddling from the opposite, I'm not too proud to switch.... does that make me a bi-paddler (not to be confused with a kayaker)?
PK