Re: [Paddlewise] Switching paddle

writes:

"Because, like wooden boat builders, GP users tend to assign a higher
aesthetic value to their tools than to the average non-user of these
tools.  However (and this is a big however!) wooden boat builders and
GP users need to remind ourselves that not everybody takes as much
stock in the aesthetic value of their tools."

Or the fact that good tools last many generations performing their tasks 
as perfectly as he who wields the tool.

But then again if you consider a kayak a tool, (paddle, sailboat, trawler, 
currachs, even the lowly coracles, made of wood & tarred leather) they 
certainly do have an aesthetic sense about them. I think of the sound of 
waves on a glass hull vs. a wooden or SOF for one. Fortunately for all of 
us taste is individual, and you're free to establish whatever norms you 
want for however long you want. 

Boats such as  the currachs have been used in Ireland for centuries and to 
visit North America (St. Brendan). Has anyone even built an SOF with a 
tarred skin? I know that's heresy in the day of chemical coatings etc. but 
it's hardly more so than house paint currently used in even in Greeenland.

Kevin




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