Re: [Paddlewise] Technology guides paddle design.

Original Message:
From: Jack Fu <SeaDogJack_at_cablespeed.com>

> When the Eskimos (or related peoples) designed their paddles,
> what materials did they have to work with? Driftwood? Bone?
> From these materials you cannot build a shaft with wide blades,
> because the blades would break. The only blades that would
> last would be narrow (e.g., Greenland) blades. Thus I suspect
> that the Greenland design came into being not because those
> early folks rejected a wide blade design in favor of a narrow
> blade, but because they did not have the materials (strong
> glues for laminating, plastics, composites, etc - all the products
> of technologically more advanced civilizations) needed to make
> the narrow shaft & wide blade combination, or what is sometimes
> called, condescendingly by some, the "white man's paddle"
>
RESPONSE:  Material/technology limitations likely were NOT the cause of
Arctic kayak paddles being so narrow.  Umiak oars, for example, are quite
wide (see H.C. Petersen's "Skinboats of Greenland", pg. 146, and 160.)
Steven Braund (in "The Skin Boats of St. Lawrence Island", pgs.68-72)
describes Umiak paddles ranging from 5" wide to 9" wide.   The technology to
make wider blades definitely existed, whether they were carved out of a
single-piece, or built up out of several pieces.   I doubt that any 'lack'
of technology is related to the advent of narrow kayak blades in the Arctic.

Greenland has seen fairly steady contact with lumber-bearing peoples in the
last four centuries.  During this time, wood was brought to Greenland for
housing construction and trade.  Shipwrecks also provided much drift-wood.
After centuries of using narrow kayak blades, there certainly was not a
mad-rush to finally make wider blades whether carved, or laminated.  For
whatever reason wide blades were rejected in Greenland, it should be known
that they are still rejected.

Regardless of why narrow paddle blades were adopted, the Inuit should still
be commended for using them, as they have surely found a superior means of
propulsion-- one that our technologically smug culture is only slowly
realizing.

    Harvey Golden

***************************************************************************
PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed
here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire
responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author.
Submissions:     PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net
Subscriptions:   PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net
Website:         http://www.paddlewise.net/
***************************************************************************