-----Original Message----- From: Nick Schade [mailto:schade_at_guillemot-kayaks.com] Sent: Wednesday, August 05, 1998 1:12 PM To: paddlewise Subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Greenland Paddles Revi At 9:38 AM -0500 8/5/98, Chuck Holst wrote: <snip> >On Friday I tried my new Greenland paddle for the first time. >I had made it as close as possible to the native design, even >to the extent of pegging "bone" tips made of white UHMW >polyethylene onto the ends. <snip> What do you mean by "_the_ native design" emphasis on "the"? Is there only one native design? Nick Schade Guillemot Kayaks c/o Newfound Woodworks, 67 Danforth Brook Rd, Bristol, NH 03222 (603) 744-6872 Schade_at_guillemot-kayaks.com http://www.guillemot-kayaks.com/ >>>>"It's not just Art, It's a Craft!"<<<< ************************************************************************** * I meant the native design I copied it from. ;-) More accurately, the Greenland paddle style documented by John Heath in Sea Kayaker about 11 years ago. In Greenland there appears to be two basic styles aside from the storm paddle. With both styles the blade is no wider than the paddler can grasp near the tip, and the blade tapers to a width at the root that is about half the maximum width. Both styles typically have a rounded bone or ivory tip pegged to the end. This bone tip can be the same width as the blade, it can be wider, or it can be nonexistent (i.e., all wood). In most of the historical photos I have seen it is wider. The main difference between the two styles is that one has partial or no bone edges on the blade, and the blade tapers to a distinct shoulder where it meets the loom. This shoulder is carved into the wood, and might be a more modern style. The other style has a shoulderless wood core and bone edges that run the full length of the blade, so that the ends of the bone strips form the shoulder. Both styles have a distinct break where the blade joins the loom, unlike some modern paddles that claim to be Greenland style. (Five years ago I attended a talk by John Heath in which someone handed him a paddle that did not have shoulders. Heath did not recognize it as a Greenland paddle -- he wasn't sure what it was -- "Aleut?" he guessed. The person who handed him the paddle still makes paddles in that style and sells them as Greenland paddles.) There were some minor variations in the Greenland style. Loom length and width appears to have been largely a matter of personal preference, though the length of the loom does not appear to have exceeded a third of the overall length of the paddle. Usually it was much less. Also, in some parts of Greenland the blade had and still has a diamond shape in section; in others it was and is more rounded. Many paddlers and paddle makers think that any paddle with long, narrow blades is a Greenland paddle. That is not true. The distinctive characteristic of the Greenland paddle is that it is made to be used with the sliding stroke; thus there are no carved drip rings or other protuberances to get in the way, and the blade cannot be wider than can be grasped anywhere along its length. In other parts of the Arctic there were narrow, long-bladed paddles that did have these protuberances, or in which the blades had almost parallel sides and larger shoulders, but I do not consider these to be Greenland paddles because they could not be used with the sliding stroke (aside from the fact that they were made and used outside Greenland). I once saw a post in which the writer bragged of having made a Greenland paddle with six-inch wide blades. That ain't no Greenland paddle, unless the writer had enormous hands! When we talk about Greenland paddles, let's make sure we are talking about the same thing. Chuck Holst *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
At 2:48 PM -0500 8/5/98, Chuck Holst wrote: >(Five years ago I attended a talk by John Heath in which someone handed >him a paddle that did not have shoulders. Heath did not recognize it as >a Greenland paddle -- he wasn't sure what it was -- "Aleut?" he guessed. >The person who handed him the paddle still makes paddles in that style >and sells them as Greenland paddles.) There is a slight implication here that Aleut paddles are somehow not as good as Greenland paddles. Is this intentional? If so why? Do Greenland paddles have some virtue that other, (non-Greenland) Inuit or Aleut, paddles do not have? In previous discussions the "Greenland" paddle was the benchmark. Is this just laziness and we really mean all traditional paddles when we refer to Greenland style? Nick Schade Guillemot Kayaks c/o Newfound Woodworks, 67 Danforth Brook Rd, Bristol, NH 03222 (603) 744-6872 Schade_at_guillemot-kayaks.com http://www.guillemot-kayaks.com/ >>>>"It's not just Art, It's a Craft!"<<<< *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
>At 2:48 PM -0500 8/5/98, Chuck Holst wrote: > >>(Five years ago I attended a talk by John Heath in which someone handed >>him a paddle that did not have shoulders. Heath did not recognize it as >>a Greenland paddle -- he wasn't sure what it was -- "Aleut?" he guessed. >>The person who handed him the paddle still makes paddles in that style >>and sells them as Greenland paddles.) > >There is a slight implication here that Aleut paddles are somehow not as >good as Greenland paddles. Is this intentional? If so why? Do Greenland >paddles have some virtue that other, (non-Greenland) Inuit or Aleut, >paddles do not have? No slight on the Aleutian paddle was intended by me or, I am sure, by John Heath. Heath giving a talk about the history and traditional use of Greenland paddles, and was momentarily confused when he was handed a paddle that was not a traditional Greenland type. I only offered that story as an example of a commercially available "Greenland" paddle that was not recognized as such by an acknowledged expert. I have no experience with the Aleutian paddle, so I cannot personally compare it to the Greenland paddle. >In previous discussions the "Greenland" paddle was the benchmark. Is this >just laziness and we really mean all traditional paddles when we refer to >Greenland style? > >Nick Schade >Guillemot Kayaks >c/o Newfound Woodworks, 67 Danforth Brook Rd, Bristol, NH 03222 >(603) 744-6872 I cannot answer for others, but when I say Greenland paddle, I mean the style (or styles) of paddle used in Greenland. Because there are so many different traditional paddles in the Arctic, I don't see how anyone could generalize about them any more than one could generalize about the handling characteristics of traditional kayaks. The main reason Greenland kayaks, paddles and paddling styles are so popular is the unbroken kayaking tradition in Greenland. In most other parts of the Arctic, traditional kayaking skills were either suppressed or fell into disuse, and much information was lost. In Greenland, especially in the Angmagssalik district, kayaks and kayaking accessories continued to be made and used in the traditional style well into the twentieth century, long enough to be documented in detail by European explorers and ethnologists. And when interest in traditional kayaking skills revived in Greenland in the 1970s and 80s, some of the old-timers were still around to teach them. There is also a historical connection with modern sea kayaking, in that Edi Pawlata, who was the first person in Europe to roll a kayak, based his Pawlata roll on written descriptions of Greenland techniques. Also, in his talk on the history of British sea kayaking at the Great Lakes Sea Kayak Symposium last weekend, Sam Cook (one of the members of the famous 1975 Nordkapp expedition) pointed out that some of the earliest fiberglass sea kayaks in Britain, such as the Anas Acuta, were heavily influenced by traditional Greenland designs. (Though he was careful to mention that there might have been parallel developments elsewhere, Cook pointed out that several features that are now standard in British sea kayaks, such as bulkheads, hatches, and built-in pumps and compasses, were invented by members of the expedition especially for their trip. They also asked Frank Goodman to design a larger and faster kayak for the expedition than existed at the time. The result, the Nordkapp, is still sold and paddled today.) Chuck Holst Schade_at_guillemot-kayaks.com http://www.guillemot-kayaks.com/ >>>>"It's not just Art, It's a Craft!"<<<< ************************************************************************** * *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
On Thu, 6 Aug 1998, Chuck Holst wrote: > > The main reason Greenland kayaks, paddles and paddling styles are so > popular is the unbroken kayaking tradition in Greenland. In most other > parts of the Arctic, traditional kayaking skills were either suppressed > or fell into disuse, and much information was lost. In Greenland, > especially in the Angmagssalik district, kayaks and kayaking > accessories continued to be made and used in the traditional style well > into the twentieth century, long enough to be documented in detail by > European explorers and ethnologists. And when interest in traditional > kayaking skills revived in Greenland in the 1970s and 80s, some of the > old-timers were still around to teach them. I have been told by George Gronseth that the reason Greenland kayaking has survived mostly undiminished while Aleutian kayaking is almost completely lost lies in the way in which kayaking skills were passed on through generations. Most Greenland hunters built their own personal boats, and therefore a very large percentage of the population knew how to build and paddle kayaks. The Aleutians had a much more specialized society in general and usually only had a handful of boatbuilders per village. When westerners brought their diseases and wiped out 75% or more of the population, there were still some hardy Greenlanders who knew how to build and paddle kayaks. The Aleutian boatbuilders were probably wiped out to the last man. Kevin Whilden *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
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