: I was practicing sculling support braces, and rolling up from about 2/3 of
: the way down. My extended hand was about at the spot where I would usually
: grip; at the blade root. My inner hand was at the tip, and the paddle was
: extended fully. It broke right at my extended hand grip, leaving the bulk
: of the paddle floating away, with me thinking "Well, I wanted to try
: this anyway..."

: And I suspect that brute force had a lot to do with it, something is still
: radically wrong with my technique. I noticed that I keep trying to extend
: that elbow, which is asking for an injury. I'll have to go back and
: re-read Greg Stamer's article on it. I have trouble visualising exactly
: how the blade should be held, and what position the body should be in. I
: can get up for a breath of air, but I cannot stay up far enough to
: breathe.

Don,

I watched you turn into the wind when we were paddleing back up the John Day after we had been over to Lois Island. It is hard to imagine you using more brute force. I don't know about the library in Vernonia, but Timberland Library here in Ocean Park Has a great video on rolling, check it out. When you manage to get over to the Bay, I've a spruce 2x4 that will make a paddle that is almost as light as your redwoods and a bunch stronger.
Bob