100 Canoe Paddle Designs: Second Edition

Eleven thousand years of canoe paddles!

A unique source of design ideas for the paddlemaker. measured offsets and detailed historical background for: contemporary designs classics (such as Chestnut, Peterborough, Rushton) world paddles (North and South America, Africa, Australasia). Some low-area native designs are also given as enlarged versions suitable for today’s canoeist stunning paddles unearthed in archaeological digs from around the world extensive bibliography   Design and performance

design elements related to handling characteristics explore paddle shape and performance; the book includes ‘families’ of contemporary beavertail, ottertail and Sugar Island designs of a set surface area; also given is a series of designs based on a beavertail morphing into an ottertail.  Blade-edge length, and area : perimeter ratio data is included experiment with pulling power; a classic paddle design is given in a range of different surface areas how do the surface areas of paddles from around the world compare? paddlemaking throughout history
Get a much deeper appreciation of paddlemaking by seeing how ancient paddlemakers followed their craft

bone, stone and metal tools for making paddles the wide range of woods used, and why sources of pigment for paddle decoration
Second Edition. February 2023

25 additional paddle blade designs including: native designs from North America, Africa and Australasia Stone-Age paddles from Europe scaled to give a surface areas suitable for recreational paddling A range of ottertail (lutre) and ‘voyageur’ designs Children’s Sugar Island and ottertail designs A SUP paddle
Plus
An expanded version of the article ‘Why Are Canoe Paddles the Shape They Are’; how paddle designs might have originated from shapes in nature ‘The Rise of the Paddle’. A detailed review of the evolution of canoe paddles in Europe over the last 11 000 years. Includes evolution of surface area; woods, fashions in paddle design and design innovation in paddle grips.