Hi 'Wisers, I got a nice cedar 2by4 last week and carved out a Greenland paddle as per Chuck Holst's instructions from his website. It was a beautiful day in Portland today so I went over to Smith Lake (nice n quiet, no powerboaters) to try it out. It's definitely paddling in low gear. Lotsa strokes ... ah but so easy on the joints. A real distance cruising paddle. At first I entered the blades at 90 degrees to the water, but then I tried angling the blades forward a bit a la Maligiaq and I definitely noticed a nice bite into the water with a surge in power. Turning my Arctic Tern with its (that word again) Greenland style hard chine hull is easy with a lean anyway, but when you can grip the top of the blade with one hand and the loom with the other it's even more sharper and easier. If you need more power you can switch to a sliding stroke. I really like the way you can maneuver your hands up and down the paddle. I haven't rolled with it yet but with the quick extension you can get out of it, it should be easy. Yeah I could definitely become a convert.... I think I'll build a storm paddle as a spare. Later, Walt Levins Portland, Or. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Sun Apr 30 2000 - 21:04:10 PDT
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