Jim, It's no fun finding out how strong a paddle is or isn't. It's not unreasonable to want your paddle to stay in one piece for an extended paddle roll or paddle float rescue. But given the desire for a light wooden paddle combined with the variety of stresses that people can exert doing things like rolling or rescue practice (paddle float and slings) it's worth saving the wood paddle and using a glass or aluminum shaft paddle until the technique is learned with the least stress on the paddle. I tossed a medium/low priced paddle about 25ft once and the plastic blade snapped in half. That was the last time I did that.