Dartmouth Yacht Club (UK) – Canoe Section

We had the usual rotational fun in Brixham pool.

Claire is demonstrating Tim’s home made Greenland style paddle.

Here is how to make a paddle in the Greenland style. First get a plank of Western Red Cedar. Saw it into slices which are then rotated so that they form a structure with laminates perpendicular to the plane of the blade. Glue together with epoxy. Then shape by marking the surfaces with the desired taper to the blade. Make tenon saw cuts to define the surplus wood. Chisel away the surplus then use a block plane or a spokeshave to get the final profile, which is a flattened diamond with rounded corners.

The picture shows the paddle made of 6 laminated sections of Western Red Cedar with saw cuts to define the wood which is to be removed.

This style of paddle is particularly popular among sea kayakers because it makes bracing strokes very easy and has relatively little wind resistance.

timP

The Brixham swimming pool has been renovated very stylishly, and renamed accordingly. ‘Pool’ isn’t splashy enough. Our first winter session attracted many people but there was just space to practice paddle tricks.

Fun in Brixham pool

timP

I joined the Vedbaek club for a weekend tour of the south Zealand archipelago, south of Copenhagen. This is an area of shallow water with humps of moraine making low rounded islands.

Our base was an old eel smoke house converted into a luxurious holiday house.

Eel smoke house, Gammel Kalvehave

We were a group of 16. Second from the left is our hostess, Marianne, who part owns the house.

I made the mistake of borrowing a wing paddle with a large offset angle. After 20 km my wrist was aching so I feared I would have to land and ask someone to fetch me by car. Fortunately Robert is an enthusiast for the Greenland style paddle.

Greenland style paddle

He lent me his spare paddle. After a few more km, my wrist did not hurt any more and I was persuaded of the merit of this neglected paddle shape.

tim P

Louise, Dave and TimP paddled from Lannacombe

(right-click and view to see higher resolution image)

to Salcombe and back, about 16 km direct.

The ferry from Salcombe town to the south beach approaches the wheeled landing stage which chugs out to meet it.

The coast from Lannacombe to Salcombe provides dramatic and interesting scenery, dominated by the spiky metamorphic rock which weathers into unusual prismatic columns. There are many caves and passages between the rocks (high resolution image) .

There have been many wrecks. Here are the remains of the Demetrios, wrecked in 1992.

The southernmost point of Devon, Prawle point has a fine arch, which can be penetrated by brave paddlers. There is often a considerable swell, and there is also a moderate tide race around the point. On this occasion the swell shot through with high velocity, aided by the strong tide up the Channel.

timP

The water is still warm and the sun shines all the short day. Some club members will now move up river to the white water, though the flow is currently very low. Others will paddle the winter Dart estuary with its abundant bird life.

Western Combe Cove, seen from the steps which climb up to the coast path west of Dartmouth.

tim P

For our second long excursion of the year we enjoyed a sunny and calm afternoon and were pushed the 11 km upriver by a 5.2 m tide which floods right up across the road in front of the pub. (The image below is high resolution: right click and select view image for full size version.)

After dinner most of us paddled back under the stars.

tim P

A sunny day in September is, according to our chief instructor, a good time for doing rescues. We start with simple things like getting back in.

Then we moved on to more challenging items like self-rescue of a group of three upturned paddlers.

The water wasn’t that warm, but the instructor likes to be thorough in his advice on every stage of the rescue, which makes it quite a slow affair.

The blurred spot on the last picture is water on the lens, the only evidence for my own self rescue with paddle float re-enter and roll, only possible with a sea kayak with sealed forward hold. The ‘Corsica’ style general purpose kayaks are sociable boats – needing a companion to facilitate re-entry, except in very calm water.

tim P