Melissa...the last thing THIS GUY needs is another hobby. Hehe. But, I do
appreciate your guidance into making my own paddles. I might run out
tomorrow and start me one...before I shovel the snow.

I bought a wooden canoe paddle several years ago, and I love the long
slender shape, as I can feel the whip in it in the water. Very good for
solo canoeing. Very precise, as I call it.

My buddy's carbon paddle was half the weight as the one I was using, which
was a beginner's paddle, so I thought I'd go get one.

Thanks for the link.

Cheers


On 2/23/05 10:07 PM, in article , "Melissa"
wrote:

Opinions? It's your lucky day, as opinions are my speciality! :-)

I've come to prefer wooden Greenland Paddles. For several years, I
was very happy with an 80 degree feathered glass Werner. A few years
ago, I tried a GP, and ever since, this has been my favorite style of
paddle.

I absolutely love everything about a GP; especially wooden ones.
They're very beautiful, a pleasure to handle, and the paddling
techniques are lots of fun (both full length and storm paddles).
They're great for bracing, sculling, and rolling as well.

There are some nice commercially made GPs, even a carbon fiber model
from Superior Kayaks (they also offer wooden models) but one of the
great things about GPs is that you can carve them yourself without
too much trouble. Very cheap this way too, so you can carve many
beautiful customized sticks for the price of one commercial paddle.

If you're interested in carving your own, here's a good set of
printable instructions from Chuck Holst (PDF file):

http://www.qajaqusa.org/QK/makegreen2.pdf

A nice 8 foot long 2x4 of clear, vertical grain Western Red Cedar will
only cost you about $15-$20, and this is perfect for carving a GP. Of
course, you can also get fancy and laminate various woods together to
create your blanks. Chris Cunningham has some instructions for
carving a nice laminated GP in his "Building the Greenland Kayak"
book.

Just like building your own boats, there's something very special
about carving your own paddles. Warning: Boat building and paddle
carving can be almost as addictive as paddling! :-)