Paddles inside

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Namely, inside the wood block (roughly a 2 x 4) I've just bought and inside my head. I look at the 2 x 4 and compare them. So far, they are identical. That's good as, of course, the paddle in my mind is just terrific. However, although they are both beautiful, none will be much use to propel a kayak in their present state and that detracts from their appeal. Therefore, I must now resort to my craftsmanship to extract a paddle as similar as possible to the one in my head from the wood. Put that way, it sounds pretty. Problem is that, currently, all that can be honestly said of my skill as a craftsman is what m my old military card used to say of my courage: supposed.



Consequently, it shouldn't be much of a surprise that I face this task with some vague apprehension. My courage, at least for military purposes, will remain an unknown (and long may it last so), but my capabilities as a do-it-yourselfer are going to be tested and, right now, that's something I cannot take lightly. In the past, I would have cared very little whether I could produce a serviceable Greenland paddle or not, but presently this links directly with much cherished projects. If the outcome is satisfactory, there will be more paddles (Arctic kayakers managed to produce a diversity of models to tempt my curiosity) and, maybe, kayaks (dreaming is cheap...). So far, all I can say is that I enjoyed fine-tuning the tools and obtained a decent result. I'm moderately optimistic.



To sum up, I guess this attempt to build a paddle represents a challenge, a chance to learn and train, and, hopefully, a stress-reducing pastime . All at once, and all for the relatively modest cost of a bit of wood and some simple hand tools. There aren't that many hobbies that can offer so much just from collateral efforts as sea kayaking, I'd say.

And I might end up with a paddle too.