Actually, twelve, unless I missed one or two. It's a long story... In the search for the perfect paddle, I keep building the perfect paddle, until Ive used it awhile. Then it isnt perfect anymore, and I have to try something new. I still have a couple of the early ones, I gave several away at R2K1. Would have given away more but they wouldnt fit on top of the car The ones that I have are only numbered back to 8 or so - I tried to figure out how many there were, and then numbered them backwards. I needed a way to keep track.

Number twelve is a little long, but when trimmed down it might replace #10 as #1, at least until #13 comes along. See why I need to number them? It's got a smooth transition, and pointed tips, and a little more width at the tips. It has a lot of power, much like a euro. Too much, thats why I think trimming it will help. 8' is too long, and I knew that when I carved it.

In the meantime, #10 is #1. It follows Chuck Holsts plans prettty close, except I think the edges are sharper. The loom is a little wider, which is more comfortable in the Spring Run. The Walrus will require paddles # 14-23 to find that balance...

And Jeff still favors #9, the redwood one that replaced the one that broke. (THATS the one I missed! Add one to all these numbers!!) So eventually I'll make a new #9 for him, and give away the old one. It's edges are getting a little chewed up anyway.

Here, you can see #12 being laid out, next to #10, the current favorite, which is next to another one, I think it's #11. The idea was to come up with a cross between the two paddles.

: WOW,

: You've actually made 11 - eleven! - west greenland paddles? Have you been
: selling them at a profit, or do you still have them all? Has this been a
: search for the perfect paddle, and if so, have you now found it, and most
: of all: what is the perfect one like ? You must have quite a shop to be
: able to turn out this kind of numbers...

: About the "rock"; why not keep it so that when somebody wants to
: borrow one of your paddles, you then have just the thing that'll teach
: them... Or you might plane one side of it flat and see how the assymmetry
: works, unless you've already tried this with one of the previous ten.

: Anyway, I'm sure many here on this board would like to hear the story of
: those eleven - soon to be thirteen - paddles!