Kayak Jack said:
Go on line and look at Inuit or Greenland paddles.
Kayaks weren't invented in Louisiana. Nanook was on vacation in the Arctic region that weekend, and needed a different kind of a pirogue for different waters. :wink:
Both are long and narrow and I suspect because of the materials and/or tools they had to work with, more than some theory of the best design. The best design may have been invented for his use or this may not have been the original paddle but what it evovled(tweeked). Nanook found a long piece of drift wood to use. Probably too much work to cut it into and there was no trees to dodge, and no place to store one in the tight fitting cockpit anyway so he left it long draped across the boat. It worked well so he never bothered to cut it into.
Joey's thought that the pirogue paddle was left square on the end to help in the mud, shallow water or whatever may be correct, but it may be that the builder did not bother to finish rounding it over, or didn't know it was suppose to be, or he had a round tipped one that was sawed off because of damage, or he cut an oar into to use in the pirogue, but it worked so why change it. He was known as "the" paddle maker, so we will make ours like he does. The "traditional" pirogue paddle is born(invented).
What would a "traditional" Indian birch bark canoe paddle look like?
There is a lady famous for her pot roast. Her "secret" is she buys only 12lb. roast and she cuts both ends off befor putting it in the pot to cook. She does it that way because her mother does it that way. Her mother does it that way because her grandmother taught her, and it is the best pot roast around. When asked why she cut the ends off the roast befor putting it into the pot, grandmother said, "The meat shop only sold 12lb. roast, but my pot would only hold a 10lb. roast." The best way to cook pot roast was born.
beekeeper
