Contrary to my initial thinkings, the second Greenland paddle has proved to be the most satisfactory. Despite its short length (190 cm), I’ve found it the best balance between length, blades’ width, weight and force. And that’s explainable, cause I have small arms and quite a short arm span, in body building, could be called a “bottom – heavy” type, my upper part is not too strongly built, unlike the lower part. And that has some advantages as well as some disadvantages in kayak paddling.

I could often balance the boat better in shaking situations, compared to the “top – heavy” type, but also, I usually find myself understrength when prolonged heavy paddling is required. Overall, I’m very pleased with my new pair of Greenland paddles, especially the second one. And that’s an attractive appearance, my boat with the two paddles, all of one same nice wooden style! On my paddling route, I usually meet and have some talks with the captain of a 2000 – ton dry – cargo vessel named UT Glory.

He proposed buying my kayak, and before I could make a polite refusal, he insisted: you know, price is not the problem!. Well, at least someone who really want to have a nice little boat like her that much! It takes some moments choosing the right words to answer him, that I won’t gonna sell her, Serene – 1, my self – designed, self – built boat! And for sure, he wouldn’t be able to find anyone who could produce just a simple, hand – crafted kayak in Vietnam though, as far as I know.

Having gained some know – hows from my first Greenland paddle, I proceed to making the second one. This is not a “storm paddle” as mentioned in the previous post, but rather just an auxiliary, backup one. It would be shorter (190 cm), and wider (10.5 cm), as my first one, though suitable for long range paddling, lacks the force needed to compete against strong current and wind. I think it’s wiser to have a pair of paddles to compensate each other (and stop using the plastic one completely).

But first, I need to reshape my first paddle a bit, to make it even lighter, and turn the cross – sections from “rounded – rectangles” into real flat – ovals. The blades are still quite thick, especially at the edges, and they’re making quite some noises when entering the water. A good paddle should make as little sound as possible, so that the water birds wouldn’t fly away until you’d approached them within 4, 5 meters or so. Well, those lovely water birds, an interesting story I would tell in another post.

5^th image below: using a spokeshave to carve the edges (the rougher job is done with the machine planer already). I’d turned to love this tool, it removes wood easily and nicely. As I’m gaining more experiences with wood working, I feel more confident and rely more on the manual tools, as they allow me to do the finer jobs. 6^th image: the pair of paddles, they’re just a little bit heavier than the plastic paddle, but feel like firm enough for hard uses though! Now ready for the glassing and painting tasks!

First two images below: the paddle takes its final shape, it is quite light indeed. Next I would glass the two blades’ tips to strengthen them a bit to avoid cracks in collisions, then some little thinned epoxy, then paint the whole thing with the same kind of PU used for the boat. Less is more is the “principle of operation” of a Greenland paddle (compared to a wing paddle), but it would take times to really accomplish that. A completely different toy, and quite a separate way of using!

The next couple of weeks, I would just re – train myself with the new paddle. It’s quite a different style, the thinner blades allow movements very closed to the boat’s body, they enters water in almost a vertical manner. It takes time to suppress old habits, find out the most efficient way and make the most out of this newest toy! I would use this and the old paddle in parallel, at least in a ‘transitional time’, a second “storm paddle” is in plan, but only after I’m well – versed with this new one!

Initial testings prove the efficiency of the Greenland paddle, at normal cruising paddling pace, there’s no noticeable difference in speed, while it’s more lightweight and ‘handy’ to operate. And my boat proceeds with much more balance and hence, tracks better with this new ‘propeller’. I would trim the blades shorter (and also make it thinner at places), 210 cm is still quite long, I guess the final length would be somewhere between 200 ~ 205 cm, but only trials would tell the final, ideal fit.

The spray skirt works very well as anticipated: tight fit with the boat and my body, easy to snap onto the cockpit coaming, flexible enough for some torso rotation and other paddling movements. The velcro stickers seal the water well, and two pockets could hold the camera, and some other miscellaneous things. At least, it’s much better than my previously – bought skirt, which is of quite an amateurish design. Next is the important job of building a wooden Greenland paddle.

The rationale of a Greenland paddle, as I understand, is that: the smaller blades put less strain onto your arms (while propelling the boat at a slightly slower speed compared to the larger wing paddle), and at the end of a long paddling day, you would end up covering almost the same distance, with less fatigue sustained, and this is specially true for lighter boats like Serene – 1. At least that’s my theory, and let see how this would turn out in practice. Well, to really know, you need to build one and test.

I start by jointing thin (1.5 cm) strips of wood to form the paddle, which would have the length of 210 cm, 75 cm for each blade and 60 cm for the loom. I choose to joint wood instead of starting from a single big piece, (it depends on the specific situation), but sometimes, glued wood is stronger, consider the strength of epoxy. The blade would be 8.5 cm wide, and the loom would be slightly oval in cross section: 3.3 x 2.8 cm. Next comes the job of meticulously carving down to the final desired shape.

One of the things I’ve been concerning about since start designing the kayak is the spray skirt. The skirt follows a cockpit that has an unconventional size and shape, and after quite some searching on the internet, I couldn’t find a vendor who could supply an already – made spray skirt that fits my size. I could, of course, have one built on custom order, that is I would need to give them the exact drawing of the cockpit, that would involve many steps back and forth, and an expensive process too.

I decided to make one my own, everything needed is already available in my workshop: some nylon fabric (the one used for thick raincoat), bungee cords, needle and thread… My sewing skill has always been terribly miserable, but the first step is done, with acceptable quality. Not a “spray skirt” yet, rather a “spray deck” covering the cockpit. Next would be sewing in the tube that goes around your waist which could be fastened with velcro tapes. Jack – of – all – trades is the sailor, isn’t he!?

7^th, 8^th images: the tube stitched, an elliptical tunnel that goes around my waist, 36 x 28 cm in dimensions. By now, the spray skirt is almost completed, it fits the boat and my body very well, just gonna add 2 pockets on the two sides. If look into details, one would see the very rough, clumsy seam lines, cause I’m not really familiar with those needle and thread jobs (I broke 3 needles while sewing!). Anyhow, I’d got it done, and it should fullfill the important functionalities of a spray skirt!

The more I paddle, the more I’m familiar with my new kayak, and the more I feel pleased with her. Maybe on my next boat, I should have the following motto boldly engraved on: built like a gun, run like a bullet!! Been quite occupied with my works recently, so for now, I won’t put an emphasis on carrying out the next phases of the project yet, just casual paddling here and there a couples of weeks, to get to know more about the boat, and to enjoy the rainy season at its climax.

One minor problem with kayak at this beam, I realized, is that just a small shift in weight could make a directional deviation, it is not a problem with the boat’s structure itself, but with the motion of your body in action. Especially on long paddling, my lower body part becomes stressful and tired long before the upper part, so the need for frequent changes in sitting positions, and hence the effects on directional stability. I guess my lower body part needs some further exercising too.

I like making some short sprints with the boat, it takes up momentum easily, just after a few strokes, and makes it very straight on effort, or to see her gently riding down the waves, just like an Andalusian in dressage equestrianship! Well, when I really have some free time, I think I should build a standard K1 hull, to experience that extreme Olympic racing form, and to better understand the correlations between lines, speed and stabilities, and also for some practicing on flat water.