Interesting Ebay item

[JClearwater]

There is an interesting old paddle for sale on Ebay. Item # 221212208701

I have no connection to the sale and do not plan on bidding. It looks to me that you put your arm through the "wishbone loop" at the top and grasp the paddle lower down. Then you can maneuver your boat around with one hand without setting down your fish pole. Necessity is the mother of invention.

Jim

 

[crosscuts]

Perhaps the paddler only had one arm.

R.C.

 

[Roger Young]

I have seen and heard of items like this before, made precisely for the situation described by Jim Clearwater where a fisherman in a canoe wants to manouever without having to set down his rod. One-handed paddling is sufficient. The eBay seller has described it as "very rare and one-of-a-kind". This would appear to be another instance where a seller of limited knowledge or exposure simply takes it upon him/herself to decide that something they have never come across before automatically qualifies as being rare and unique when, in fact, it likely is not. Unusual, perhaps, but neither rare nor the only one ever made. Few around? Possibly.

 

[crosscuts]

With renewed interest in the one armed positioning paddle they are once again in production. This model has a bit of NW motif in the blade shape and inlays of mother of pearl at the branch arms. They are popular with canoeists on dawn patrol for stabilization while drinking the cup of morning coffee. Lately with the rise in popularity of Courting Canoes owners of such craft find the paddles handy to steady the canoe while pouring champagne. This paddle was carved from a plank salvaged from an abandoned 100 year old water tank in California. The lumber might have been milled from a 1000 year old tree.

R.C.