I have paddled for 22 years now and the first 10 we did not have bent shafts available. I used to get sore wrists and forearms then I finally made the switch to bent shaft for WW paddling. I have never went back to straight since. It is so much more comfortable to paddle BS paddle. I even switched to BS for sea kayak.

Since I switched 10 years ago I no longer have wrist or forearm problems and can paddle all day comfortably. I do have great paddle form and work on it every time I paddle, so I feel I can say that bent shaft paddling is the way to go. The weight gain for a bent shaft is negligible at maybe one or two ounces more.

I used to say that bent shafts were stupid when I only paddled straight, but after I finnaly switched and got used to them, I will never go back...