C-Forum

Right handed lefty paddler. Like Jim, I feel pretty incompetent on my right...I never ever switch.

right handed, right side. Hey Phil can you switch hit on the guitar too?

when I was a kid my brother was biger + right handed so I had to paddle left.Now I paddle solo left. Guide Rafts right

I am right handed and paddle left. I started paddling lefty OC-2, and stayed that way even after starting oc-1.

paddle lefty but i'm right handed, gotta have my right hand in control on t-grip. off side strokes feel strong and balanced when reachin over to the right side, feels awkward going righty and reachin left so I stuck with lefty.

I'm right handed and paddle on the right side of the boat. I've got a bad right shoulder that doesn't tolerate having my right hand on the t-grip, so I couldn't switch even if I wanted to.

Righty, paddle c1 right. Can barely paddle a c1 as a lefty on flatwater, but feel comfortable guiding a raft on stuff up the Upper G in difficulty from the left. Predoninalty right guide, learned to switch it up to save wear and tear guiding commercially. Can't seem to make the switch to lefty in the c1 though.

lefty, right handed

Right handed
Paddle Left. Same as hockey!

Right handed paddle left. It's not the strength of the stroke, it's the dexterity. I started out right on right but as the runs got more difficult and the boat got smaller I just found that the right on the t grip equalled greater boat control.

i'm a righty but paddle only lefty. also swing a baseball bat lefty (also use a rake, broom, shovel, ect. lefty) not sure that has anything to do with right-hand control. maybe so, but it just feels natural on the left.

Lefty who is right-handed. I can switch in OC to some degree, but I'm like a newbie if I try to switch in decked canoe. For me it's the leans and edging being off, rather than a substantial change in paddle dexterity or power. Also, I only C-roll on the left, although I'm ambidextrous in rolling a K-1.

John

Right handed Lefty. Working on being abmidexterous.

Tommy

I'm a righty who paddles right.

I'm right-handed, paddle lefty. When I was learning, most of the top guns (Jon, Davey, etc) were leftys, so maybe that had something to do with it, but over the years I've decided that having the dominant hand on the T-grip is a major advantage.

The major disadvantage is that when everybody else paddles lefty, too, it makes for slim pickings for a C-2 partner. I finally learned enough to at least get along paddling bow-right . In the beginning we flipped all the time because I had no brace, but I could switch really fast, so we had a dynamite never-swim roll. After a while I started learning to brace, but then for a while it took multiple tries to roll because I wasn't instantly switching in mid-air.

Then I got smart-alecky & decided that if switching hands to roll was so great, I should learn a righty roll for a right-handed partner. Funny thing was that I developed a good righty roll, but could never get the hang of doing the switch fast and we had problems because I took too long to get set up. The bow roll was plenty strong & easier to time.

So then there was a time when I was mostly paddling C-2, bow left. Went out surfing some good-sized waves in C-1 one day & couldn't figure out why I kept flipping so much -- until suddenly I realized that I was instinctively bow rolling -- and finishing up with a weak "offside" paddle position ;-)