Re: GP Wobble

Posted by Kurt Maurer on Aug 29, 2005

Hey Mac -- welcome to the wild and whacky world of the GP as I understand it!!

Getting terrible flutter is exactly how I started out, but today I get none of it -- can't even duplicate it if I wanna. I don't know what to tell you, except that technique evidently gets rid of it. The blade shape probably hasn't much, if anything, to do with it; as far as I know, some folks prefer the diamond cross section.

My own blade of choice has become a soft diamond that morphs into a flattened ellipse for the last 12 inches towards the tips. I also have come to prefer a soft octagonal shape for the loom, and half-circle tips.

As I've said many times before, it just took me forever to tame the beast. Probably the single most helpful thing I ever did was go paddling with an experienced GP hand. I didn't learn all that much from him, but the inspiration from watching him use it so effectively was enough to make me even more determined to get it.

There's a ton of stuff on the web, try Googling "Greenland paddle", "Greenland paddle technique", etc., and study what dribbles in. Also remember that the GP blade creates lift, as opposed to a Euro paddle's brute force approach, so pay special attention to the "canted blade" technique, "dig angle", etc., etc.

I found the site below to be particularly helpful. Good luck, and let us know how it gos!

Cheers, Kurt

http://www.seacanoe.org/images/fig-2.gif

MASK GP web page

In Response to: GP Wobble by Mac on Aug 29, 2005

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