GEAR: prototype neutral shaft Greenland paddle

After months of design, test, redesign and a few headaches finally we have produced the first working prototype of a "neutral shaft" (aka as bent shaft) Greenland paddle.


I used to paddle with neutral shaft Werner paddles and I wanted to try the same concept with my new found love: the GP.
The idea and execution is a collaboration between myself and a few close friends of mine.
The paddle is a foam core carbon reinforced shell. Unfortunately the first prototype is not as light as we hoped tipping the scales at just over 990 grams.
Once we are happy with the performance and design we will consider creating a mould to craft a lighter model.
On water testing went without a problem. After the initial few minutes of adjustment needed to locate the hands in the "well" the paddle sat nicely and a dramatic improvement in speed was recorded (this time I had to use a GPS even if I don't like the gadget).

Dreamer after testing the new neutral shaft GP
I didn't want to post any close up picture of the paddle since we have applied for a patent and we don't want the industry try to rip our design off (see the case of the electric bilge pump).

Anybody seriously interested in commercially manufacturing the paddle should contact me at gnarlydognews(at)gmail.com

Review: iStick by Vanilla

A recent trip of 5 days to Fraser Island gave me the perfect opportunity to test a prototype paddle of my design and executed by Vanilla.

Fraser Island's western shores are on Hervey Bay where at the moment humpback whales are visiting on their annual migration from Antarctica.

The whales are present from around mid June to early September and then return back to the south cold waters to feed again.

The sheltered waters of Hervey Bay offer the perfect opportunity to observe this marine mammals from the kayak.

A previous trips to the bay has been very successful but last year's outing was not as good: we saw only one whale.

To increase the chance of whale encounters MEI has engineered a new revolutionary tool that attracts whales.

The iStick (TM).

In joint venture with Vanilla (he has been carving Aleut type paddles for some time now) we have come up with the ultimate whale watching paddle.

What? a paddle just for whale watching?... get out of here.

Well, I figured that whales are attracted to whale songs.

After some research I was able to find some recordings of whale songs on the net.

I downloaded the songs from http://www.oceanmammalinst.org/songs.html into my iPod.

The challenge was on how would I play the songs to the whales.

I was lucky to find some waterproof speakers from a local distributor (

http://cpc.farnell.com/1/1/46402-mini-waterproof-speaker-2w-8ohm-k50wp-2915-visaton.html ) and decided that I could play the songs while submersing the speakers into the water. Sound travels very well under water.

Suddenly I had this great idea: integrate the speakers into a paddle.

back side (non power face) of the iStick TM

Vanilla was able to help me out with my idea.

His paddles are made from easily carved wood (western red cedar) and would lend themselves perfectly to the modification.

A laminated version of the paddle had to be made to house the speaker wires.

I found a really good waterproof connector (http://nexinc.thomasnet.com/viewitems/all-categories/miniatures?&forward=1) that has been placed in the middle of the shaft to plug in my iPod.

waterproof connector

The whole unit is pretty light and the weight increase from the speakers at the end of the paddle is not really noticeable.

The test paddle at Fraser Island went very well.

The paddle proved to be strong (as much as a standard Vanilla Aleut paddle) and there was only very small difference in paddle "noise" when entering the water (the speakers are on the back side of the paddle).

As far as attracting whales it proved successful.

We came across several pods and the whales seem to turn around and approach us rather close.

Since the iStick seem to be a success I have bothered applying for a patent.

If the patent application is successful (Pat. pending #6360693) I might consider commercial production.

testing the iStick TM