Drew Cutter wrote:
I did some more research today on wood vs graphite vs fiberglass.
Apparently the amount of bend (flex ) that a wood paddle does , it
provides stress relieve to your joints , etc.

It certainly can, but it depends on the design of the paddle. If you
build your own wood paddles, you can make them as stiff or flexible as
you like. Personally, I prefer a paddle with a bit of flex and snap to
it, as opposed to a paddle that's really rigid. The other means to
reduce stress on the joints is to make the paddle shorter and/or the
blades narrower and use a higher paddling cadence to move at the same
speed. It's analogous to using lower gearing and a higher cadence on a
bicycle.

What are the different
things that you can do to the grip to make if comfortable , etc ? Since
the Greenland paddle is very customized to the paddler.

First, the cross-section of the loom should be sized to the paddler's
hands. The shoulder size, shape and angle can be modified to suit one's
preferences. Some paddlers prefer a paddle with no shoulders. If you
look in my "Greenland Paddles" album on Webshots, I've just added a
photo of various shoulder and loom configurations.

http://community.webshots.com/user/brian_nystrom-reg

I also cover sizing paddles in detail in the book.

I suppose their is no way to break down (Split) a Greenland paddle to
make to transport easier on the plane or car ?

Feathercraft sells a takedown GP, but it's rather heavy. The problem is
that the only commercially available center ferrules are too small and
the wrong shape (round) for a GP loom. In order to get adequate strength
at the loom-ferrule junctions, you need to use a hardwood or
hardwood-reinforced loom, which makes the paddle heavier than a typical
cedar paddle.

For transportation, a 4" PVC tube with a glued-on cap on one end and a
screw-on cap on the other holds 3 GPs and protects them quite well when
traveling by road, rail or air. It can easily be strapped to a roof rack.


Brian Nystrom wrote:
Drew Cutter wrote:
Brain ,

I love the tuktu paddles. Question do you carry more than one style
of Greenland paddle . One for bad weather (storm) and another for
more calm condition when you are on open water (like the great lakes
) ? I kind feel like I'm buying a bamboo fly rod as i look over the
tuktu paddles.

I do carry two paddles, but my "storm" paddle serves primarily as a
conveniently-sized spare that fits nicely on my foredeck. The "storm"
moniker is actually a North American term. In Greenland, it would be
referred to as a "short" paddle for use with a sliding stroke. They
are/were used for all paddling in certain areas of the country. There
are also medium-sized paddles that are used with a partial sliding
stroke. You can see John Petersen using this this paddle & technique
in the video "Amphibious Man". He's so smooth that you barely even
notice that he's sliding the paddle one hand width on every stroke.