Gear: The Greenland Paddle

February-March 2001

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
To download a pdf copy of the magazine click here: > DOWNLOAD

by Adam Bolonsky

Left to right: a standard Euroblade, a short Greenland storm paddle, and regular length Greenland paddle.

Most kayakers who paddle wooden boats, and plenty who of those who don't, eventually find themselves intrigued by the beauty and traditional appearance of the Greenland paddle. And with good reason, too. Greenland paddles are not only beautiful, they also offer distinct advantages over the more widely- accepted and used 'Eurospoon'.

A quick look at the Greenland paddle reveals how its simplicity of shape, lack of complex dihedrals, and lack of scoop, feather, or compound blade angles, combine to make rolling, bracing, and paddling simpler and more straightforward. Because the blades are unfeathered and symmetrical, they don't have power faces to search for, nor upside-downs, rightside-ups, or diving faces to worry about. The faces are simplicity itself: narrow, flat, identical.

Then there's the paddle's extremely narrow profile, the one attribute which tends to attract the most notice. "But it's so skinny! How do you roll with it?" Because the blades are narrow, they tend to flutter and twist less in wind and breaking swell, and ditto when dipped into the water column.

Then there's the body positioning of the forward stroke. That very thinness which tends to gather so much notice also results in a highly-cadenced, wide, light and restful stroke. Torso forward, the Greenland paddler's hands lie low, his or her torso never wound up into the rotational twist so required by a Eurostroke.

For those just starting out, here are the basics of how to use the Greenland paddle.

Forward Stroke

Grasp the paddle loosely by the loom (shaft), slide your hands about shoulder-width apart, lower the loom until your thumbs rest comfortably on the cockpit coaming, and orient the paddle so it lies at a right angle to the boat. Repeat the following words to yourself: short, low, short, low. Alternately dip each blade into the water so it slides six to ten inches down into water column. Be sure the blade lies shallow in the water column rather than deep, as the blade's length, not its depth, creates power.

The Catch

Initiate your first stroke by reaching forward until your torso has rotated about half as much as you're used to. Keep the blade and surface of the water roughly parallel, and pull back gently to initiate the stroke. Keep your hands low. Push gently against whichever footpeg feels most comfortable.

What they lack in width, Greenland paddles amply make up for in ease of use, comfort, versatility and style. The narrower blade results in a gentler, softer stroke.

If you do this right, your fist stroke will feel downright ineffective if not utterly insubstantial. You may feel as if you have no blade in the water column. The paddle may slice straight down into the water, or not even grab at all. Don't worry about these sensations. They're normal for the first Greenland stroke. What's happening is your muscle memory of the Euroblade's broad face, its immediate torque and power-factors pretty much irrelevant now-are guiding you. Try again. This time, keep your strokes short, light, and gentle until you become comfortable with the blade's thinner feel and how your wrists don't need to rotate. (Some paddlers can't complete one all-important first stroke without going over and having to wet-exit the boat-or thinking that they'll have to.) But don't worry: the feelings usually go away after twenty or thirty strokes. Repeat until you can move your boat backwards and forwards.

Troubleshooting

Should success elude, here are a few troubleshooting notes:

if you release too far back, or catch too far forward, you'll over-commit yourself to one side of the boat, which tends to exaggerate the tippy feeling and fear of flipping over
if all else fails, (in some cases all will), try to concentrate only on keeping your strokes short, choppy, highly-cadenced, mellow, and low
should frustration strike, remember that the stroke's low hand position, its short, quick rhythm, its reduced torso rotation all serve very definite purposes. Not only is the lower hand position ultimately more restful but, come time to brace or roll, you'll discover it keeps your body in position ready to create a brace or support stroke.

Conclusion

Many paddlers like myself who favor the Greenland paddle also soon discover other benefits to the paddle more interesting to talk about. For one, even though the paddle does keep the paddler at all times in the ready position to brace or roll; and even though the paddle's decided lack of requirements for explosive power does twist the paddler into far less committed body positions; and even though the paddler's body is always oriented forward with hands, arms, and blades close to the water, the bottom line, at least for me and many others, is that the Greenland paddle is simply a blast to use!

Genuine Greenland boats are amazing-looking vehicles of extreme length, twitchy tippiness, and wisp-like volume. Stunningly fast, their remarkable seaworthiness depends almost entirely upon the paddler's skills, skills so advanced no one would ever put up with learning them if it weren't fun to do so. The simplest of paddling tools, the Greenland paddle at first asks and then wholeheartedly allows you to conserve energy on long trips, yet remain at all time in ready position for bracing, sculling, rolling... or wholesale horsing around.

Although it's a paddle reduced to the barest essentials, any Greenland paddler who is honest will tell you the Greenland paddle is great fun to use.

There's also the Inuit storm paddle: a short, blunt paddle whose small size belies its power, and which offers almost no resistance to wind in a storm. Nearly three quarters of the paddle disappears into the water on each specialized slide-stroke, a stroke deployed only when the wind and waves build and when perseverance is all that counts.

A frequent writer and teacher on kayaking and the outdoors, Greenland paddler Adam Bolonsky is based in Gloucester, Massachusetts. He teaches kayak navigation and guides kayak-fishing trips off the coast of Massachusetts.