Saturday, April 16, 2011

kayaking for all ages and Greenland paddle making


My workbench at the beginning of the day, there are some old paddles showing lots of wear and tear that need a bit of elbow grease to get them in shape again, and some Cedar blanks for the new paddles

What we need is another set of hands, that would make life easier. On the other hand yuou can use clamps as well.

At the end of the day Avital oils her new paddle

Josh and Danny cant believe this moment,

This is my front yard, I love the colour

Josh got out on the water as soon as possible to try out his new paddle  and he took the Tiderace kayak out for a trial too. He was happy with both.

On Saturday I met Ben out kayaking with his dad Zviki, Ben had a great Greenland paddle, just the right size for him and showed considerable skill in using it too.
Well paddle carving is a great way to spend a day. you start out with a piece of rough lumber, some sharp tools and a picture in your head. Slowly you get rid of all the wood that isn`t part of the paddle, and at the end of the day you have a  Greenland paddle that you can use with pride.
There are so many variations in paddle styles that almost whatever you make will be usefull and you can  always modify it as you paddle and get to know what you need.
 Maybe the loom is too large, or the blades are too wide to hold comfortably when rolling.
No problem,a couple of minutes with a plane, some sandpaper and your paddle is now modified  and ready to go again.
It takes time to get used to paddling with the Greenland paddle , but those that persevere are rewarded with new skills and a very versatile paddle.
Try it, you may just like it.

3 comments:

avital said...

Nice post my friend. It was a nice day together and you phrase it very well. We were working to vanished the gap between our image and the rough lumber...nice, I'll remember it!

Rachel Einav said...

But the nices is my Pink paddel...

nissim said...

very nice

in the future i would to start paddling with one