Re: [Paddlewise] Modern Greenland Paddle

> 
> By "modern Greenland" I mean any light, usually graphite narrow bladed
> paddle.  Typical are the Werner Little Dipper and Arctic Wind, and the
                                  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ??!!!!!
> Eddyline Windswift.  I have owned and used all of these and find any of them
> dramatically less tiring over long distance at moderate speed (3.5 to 4.5
> knots) than a large bladed paddle such as the Werner San Juan.  This with
> the very important proviso that I use a low Greenland stroke.

The Artic Wind can only be compared to the extremely long paddles of
East Greenland, not to the West Greenland variety which are the ones
people refer to by "Greenland Paddle".

IMHO the Artic Wind, and most of the commercial paddles that are sold
as "Greenland" paddles are aberrations of the original idea. They lack
the profile that provides lift when swept across the water, the shafts
are too long -designed for the general public who are not expected to
change their paddling style-, and they are not designed to be grabbed
at the blades in order to play Greenland "trick" rolls.

As George Gronseth said one in wavelength, the cheapest Greenland paddle
made at home is better and closer to the real thing than any commercial
version. Only those who make their own paddles following the descriptions
of John Heath and others know the difference.

The most outrageous example of misconception for the sake of marketing
hype comes from Derek Hutchinson and his "Toksook" paddle. He claims
"it is symmetrical, which helps in sculling", but the edges are very
thin and the blade stalls at very low angles; it does not even have
the appropiate foil shape to create lift. He uses the leaf shape in
the blade just because "the Aleut did it that way"; the secret of 
that shape is that it reduces the cavitation of the blade as it enters
the water, yet the modern asymmetrical paddle blades maximize that
cavitation for the sake of wrist comfort as the general public wants it.

Do you folks want to see a good paddle? Look at the painting on
Dyson's book "Baidarka", page 55. 

I am surprised that someone like Mr. Hutchinson could get so close
and yet not get the clue. A good paddle blade as an eliptic shape,
and has a symmetrical foil profile. If I ever got bored of my
Greeland paddles (highly unlikely) and made a modern paddle I would
pickup a nice strong carbon shaft, and glue styrofoam blades to 
it as described above (eliptical, foil profile, symmetrical), and
fiberglass the foam. That would make the lightest paddle of all,
it would scull like not other, work like a wing paddle whenever
the paddler chooses to use a positive angle, and would have extremely
low cavitation when entering the water.

But such a paddle would be difficult to market due to the fierce
competition of the _new_ release of sea kayaking paddles from
other manufacturers. As everything _new_ is always better, the
new paddles do no longer have a spoon shape, but the _new_ revolutionary
fork shape. Such a revolutionary design is going to make millions
of $$ in revenue from the general public, who can not wait to get
the latest _new_ stuff at REI. :-))

- Julio

p.s. grrrrr!! :-}

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