Lefties Rule?

[pgf]

I can't resist any longer!

I am generaly right-handed, but I paddle solo ww left, solo flatwater either, tandem bow either, tandem stern left, open jars right, hold a hockey stick left, a guitar right and in baseball I switch hit.

Oh yes - I prefer to enter eddies on-side, but leave them on my off-side.

I don't know if it really has anything to do with fate, genetics or any other predisposition - just what you are familiar with. I always paddled on either side, ww or flat, tandem or solo, until my sons took up the sport in my tandem. They preferred the right (in the bow for the first few years) and I became more and more left-handed. I don't know why I hold a hockey stick left - just weird, I guess.

I find I can still switch just fine in flatwater paddling, any boat, any position, but my faltwater stoke and paddle are very different from my ww one.

[Kelly-Rand]

I think unscrewing the jar has more to do with the rotation direction. You hold the jar in your right because you can use four fingers to resist the rotation verses just your thumb if you hold it with your left. Think how your arms have to twist up and in if the jar is in your left vs out and down if it is in your right.

til next
Jim Kelly-Rand

[yarnellboat]

Since I started out doing long canoe trips. I'm pretty ambidexterous. With wooden paddles I thought I was 50/50, but now the wear on my fiberglass blades tells me I paddle more on my left. I'm right-handed (writing, hockey, golf, baseball, frisbee, whatever).

Problem is, my roll on left is very sketchy, my mind just can't get me there, or maybe it's my arm. So, at tough spot I have to choose either my stronger paddling side (left) or my roll (right). Is the glass half empty or half full? Rather than try my leftie roll, I often just switch hands once I'm over.

I tried a slalom course a little while ago and I was frustrated because I couldn't decide which side I wanted to paddle it on. It would be interesting to take multiple runs on paddling on each side and find out on which side I miss fewer gates.

P.

[Heidi]

[In a OC-1 I switch a lot but in a C-1 I don't switch all that often. The reason is that a cross-over stroke is weaker than an on-side stroke. An OC-1 is heavier and requires a more powerful stroke so I switch sides for more power. It also takes longer to cross over in an OC-1 so I don't lose that much time by switching.]

I'm a righty and I don't switch unless I choose to paddle on the left because my right needs a break or I'm accommodating a tandem or a shredder run. The result of learning to commit to my off-side is that I consider my off-side to be as strong as my on-side except when it comes to braces. Perhaps if one switches then muscle memory, control, confidence in the off-side stroke will not develop so it would seem as though the off-side is weaker and not as fast. Likewise if you switch alot then you will have developed that muscle memory so you would be more efficient at it than a non-switcher. There was a top racer that switched but most of the ww racing action I've seen would not support that switching is faster and it adds in a moment when both hands are not on the paddle. A more subtle aspect in selecting technique is the feedback your mind gives you.

[mrosene]

i paddle onthe left side but im right handed i always foound its more important to keep my power hands on the tgrip but i think triks look equaly kool done on either side.

[mrosene]

i paddle onthe left side but im right handed i always foound its more important to keep my power hands on the tgrip but i think triks look equaly kool done on either side.

[Marshall]

I really don't think being a rightie or leftie really has anything to do with left and right handedness, other than that someone early on said "your left handed, therefore you should be a leftie."

For that matter, I don't really believe in left or right handedness at all, except that someone early on identifies a person as left or right handed, and from then on they just develop that side. There are plenty of things that people do with both hands equally well (type, piano) because they practice with both equally. Also, if people are really innately left and right handed, then how many people out there would have been misidentified early on, and had learned to function with the wrong hand. They must be doing pretty well...

[CosmikDebris]

marshall, check the C1 squirt post!
will