"The Stick"

What we call a paddle some look at this and say, "hey, a stick!" On first glance I can't help but agree. There is a picture of the loom enlarged on this paddle as well as a good section of the total length of the paddle which had to be about nine feet or more. As we know with Greenland type paddles, work more efficiently with many smaller bites than fewer larger bites. The cadence is easier to maintain, the length of the "stick" gives the surface area needed to go faster with greater efficiency. As Gerry David says, "Like paddling a bicycle up a hill in low gear". I know very little actually about such paddles but have tried them and know that it is a wet paddle environment so ya need a good spray skirt. This didn't bother early paddlers as they wore Tuliks, totally sealed off from water entering their coaming. This paddle is the actual paddle that was found with the kayak that follows.