Subject: Re: baidarka aleut paddle plans
From: James Mitchell (mariner@seanet.com)
Date: Fri Dec 15 2000 - 00:31:14 EST
Yeah. Haven't set foot in the shop since Thanksgiving due to a flat VW
owned by dotter2.com and simultaneous blown engine in my old Mazda. Why am
I driving and old Mazda, you ask? Because I have daughters....
But when I last looked in on the paddle adventure, my new paddle making
machine (the wood crunching monster) was actually turning out a decent
product. I have made a half dozen blanks so far out of redcedar 2x6's, all
with the 8 degree dihedral on the power face. Finally I can cut that
dihedral in less than about 12 hours -- more like 20 minutes. From there,
it takes me about another ten hours to finish a blade. Nobody will ever get
rich doing these redcedar blades... but there is some other hope on the
horizon.
I hope I am not saying too much here. Werner Paddles has hired a gentleman
named Andy, a world class paddler who is now heading their research and
development. Andy and I went out paddling with one of the new aleut blades,
which disappeared with him back to the shop in Sultan. That was over a month
ago. I keep hearing whispers. There is some new testing going on, and our
Aleut blade is in the program. I don't know what the results will be, but I
do know Andy's reaction to using the blade while paddling Orca -- with a big
smile on his face.
Credit Lew, gang. If he hadn't turned me on to this... thanks, Lew!
Engineering tests aside, Ralph, the other answer to your question is that I
am now able to replicate the success of the prototype blades. Almost zero
flutter, no splashing, no cavitation, light weight -- just silent smooth
power. Here's the deal. If I am heading into some surf, or some situation
where I am likely to need a lot of high speed acceleration, I may switch to
the take-apart composite blade on my back deck -- although I use the Aleut
blades when I am playing around in the tide rips in Deception Pass. But when
it comes to all-day paddles or even a couple hour sweet and quiet time on
the water, the Aleut blade is the only one I use.
----- Original Message -----
From: <RCH3149@aol.com>
To: <baidarka@lists.intelenet.net>
Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2000 3:56 AM
Subject: Re: baidarka aleut paddle plans
> In a message dated 12/14/00 1:13:10 AM Eastern Standard Time,
> mariner@seanet.com writes:
>
> << ... I am interested in having more of these paddles in use so we can
all
> learn more about them ... >>
>
> James, I remember you writing about your mods some time ago. How about
giving
> us an update of the latest stage of development?
> Ralph
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