From: CHUCK@MULTITECH.COM (Chuck Holst)
To: baidarka@lists.intelenet.net ('Baidarka')
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1998 16:46:10 -0500
Subject: [baidarka] New Greenland Paddle
Next weekend I will be trying out my new Greenland paddle at the Great Lakes Sea Kayak Symposium on Lake Superior. My previous paddles have been all wood. For this one, however, I carved "bone" tips out of UHMW polyethylene and fastened them to the ends using mortise and tenon joints. The tips are wider than the paddle blades, as is common in Greenland. The paddle is not completely finished. It still needs to be sanded, oiled, and perhaps trimmed a little more with a spokeshave to make the sections more oval. However, it is far enough along to paddle with.
It will be interesting to see if the wide tips make the paddling feel any different. My best guess is that the reason for the extra width is simply to keep the top hand from slipping off the paddle when it is extended, but who knows -- maybe it has other advantages. One notable thing about the jointed tip is that because of the tenon's small section, it is probably weaker than an unjointed tip. This may be one reason the Greenland Inuit did not hold their paddles by the tip when using an extended brace or roll.
Anyway, if anyone who is going to the symposium wants to take a look at it, feel free to come over and ask questions. I shouldn't be hard to spot, since the translucent white tips should really stand out in the sunlight.
Chuck Holst