Hi PeterO, Indeed, there are many of us interested in the Greenland skills, boats, paddles and gear. Do you get Sea Kayaker Magazine? I wrote a story about Cindy Cole, Greenland boats and skills over the past 20 years at Camp Arrowhead, Delaware, US. I have extra copies. The short story is that Cindy and her husband, Charlie Cole started an annual Fall retreat for paddlers in 1988. The program became popular. After a few years, a few of got hold of a video about the paddling clubs in Greenland and demonstrating their rolling skills. At that time, common wisdom was that paddlers must only learn the C-C roll whether they were river paddlers or sea kayakers. I converted to back deck rolls in the late 1970's after damaging my left elbow doing endless successive C-C rolls one happy summer day. It put me out of business for the rest of the season. In subsequent class 4-5 white water, rolling to the back deck, I never missed a roll! When the folks at Arrowhead saw the skill and grace of the Greenland paddlers showing off their rolling skills, there was just no stopping them. The race was on to see who could learn the most different rolls. At the 10th year anniversary, they got Maligiac Padilla, Greenland rolling/paddling champion for that year to travel to Arrowhead and show off his skills. We always just did one roll then another, each separate from the last In his opening set, using an authentic Greenland skinboat and paddle, Maligiac ran of a series of about 8 different rolls, each linked to the one before, with hardly a splash anywhere in the set. It was the first time I ever saw a series of different rolls performed in the manner of a carefully scripted gymnastic routine. Since then, the Greenland skills etc have grown like a wind-blown prairie fire. Many of us have build our own boats and paddles. I have a pile of Greenland paddles out in the garage (different designs). I made my most recent one out of a red cedar trunk collected in my back yard. The trunk wasn't quite straight resulting in a slight bend in the middle. How about that... the first "bent shaft" Greenland paddle. I plan to steam it to get the bend out. Cheers, Chuck Sutherland *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
Chuck, It would be more authentic if you left that bend in the paddle. As I recall, some of the paddles used by members of the British Arctic Air Route Expedition in Ammasilik in the early 30s had similar bends. Whether the bends were intentional or accidental, I don't know, but as I recall, one of the surviving paddles used by the expedition has an arrow drawn on the loom, apparently a reminder of the correct way to hold it. Chuck Holst > Many of us have build our own boats and paddles. I > have a pile of Greenland paddles out in the garage (different > designs). I made my most recent one out of a red cedar trunk > collected in my back yard. The trunk wasn't quite straight resulting > in a slight bend in the middle. How about that... the first "bent > shaft" Greenland paddle. I plan to steam it to get the bend out. > > Cheers, > Chuck Sutherland *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
> Many of us have build our own boats and paddles. I > have a pile of Greenland paddles out in the garage (different > designs). I made my most recent one out of a red cedar trunk > collected in my back yard. The trunk wasn't quite straight resulting > in a slight bend in the middle. How about that... the first "bent > shaft" Greenland paddle. I plan to steam it to get the bend out. > > Cheers, > Chuck Sutherland Hardly the first bent-shaft Greenland Paddle... _http://www.wolfgangbrinck.com/boats/paddles/greenbent.html_ (http://www.wolfgangbrinck.com/boats/paddles/greenbent.html) I've built a few myself with an intentional bend in the middle...works fine! Mark Goff Hampden, Maine **************New MapQuest Local shows what's happening at your destination. Dining, Movies, Events, News & more. Try it out! (http://local.mapquest.com/?ncid=emlcntnew00000001) *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
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