Joe O'Blenis

Well the Christmas season has come and I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas, or at least the best possible in the current world we are in.
Now that Boxing Day is here, it is time to put our paddles on for the lowest prices of the year. 

There are also some changes coming in 2022 and we will talk about that later in the post as well.

Our Greenland paddles, both the one piece and our #1 selling two piece p...

   Paddles. Let's talk about paddles.

   As many of you know, I have built a lot of kayak and canoe paddles over the years. Everything from straight shaft canoe paddles, bent shaft canoe paddles, SUP paddles, 1 and 2 piece Greenland Paddles etc. But right now, we are going to talk about my three favourite paddles that I did NOT make.

   The paddles I talk about in the video are a Zaveral...

   So, let's talk about Greenland Paddles.
The different options between non-shouldered, shouldered and soft shouldered paddles.
And also a bit about the two different loom & ferrule sizing options on our 2 piece Greenland Paddles.

   We build non-shouldered paddles, shouldered as well as soft shouldered Greenland paddles.
Our carbon fiber ferrules for our #1 selli...

   So over the last couple years, I've got back into dehydrating food sagain, the types of things I often take with me for canoe tripping, sea kayak trips or backpacking etc.

   Today, I've decided to do a blog post, the first of several, on some of the food dehydrating I have been doing. This one, on bell peppers, is one of my favorites. I love bringing them with me on my trips, as well as using them throughout the year at home in a wide variety of soups, sauces etc...

   Mission accomplished!

   At 8:22 Pm Saturday evening, Sept. 04th, 2010, exactly 16 days, 12 hours and 14 minutes after launching my kayak in Nanaimo BC on Vancouver Island, I returned to the same location and reclaimed the speed record from British paddler Sean Morley. And yes, this entire trip was done with a pair of my hand crafted Greenland Paddles, proving that the GP's are indeed very efficient for long distance cruising and can set, and maintain...

It is finally time to get on the water and start the expedition around Vancouver Island to reclaim the speed record. After having to postpone it by a year last summer due to not being able tokeep up with orders for my paddles as I expanded the little home grown business, I thought I'd be on the water in June for this expedition. 

But as the season approached, I was again overwhelmed with orders and had to once again postpone, this time though only for a couple of months.

   Well, just under one month to go before launching the expedition to reclaim the speed record for circumnavigating BC Canada's Vancouver Island.

   The goal for the roughly 1150 kilometer trip is 16 days.

 
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As I type up this latest Blog Entry, I am sitting in the woodshop with the laptop in front of me. Surrounded by Greenland Paddles in various stages of construction, i am happy to announce that I will be supplying Helen Wilson (the 2008 Greenland Rolling Champion) with some of my handbuilt paddles.

The new sposorship has just come together over the past few days and I am pretty excited  about getting my paddles into the hands of somebody like Helen. When it comes to roll...

A few days ago, Victoria BC resident Nick Castro launched his attempt to set a new record for sea kayaking around Vancouver Island. Unfortunately, as of yesterday, Nick has withdrawn due to a severe case of tendinitus in his left arm.

Apparaently the injury flaired up on day 2 and quickly worsened, forcing Nick off the water early on day 3 after about 25 kilometers. He had paddled roughly 65 kilometers on Day 1 and about 45 on Day 2.

The goal was around 80 kilometers p...

    Lots of news on the local paddling scene here in Thunder Bay Ontario. Teaming up with the good folks at Quetico Provincial Park, the Superior Kayak & Canoe Club is co-hosting the "Paddle Your Friends Canoe or Kayak Symposium" on July 5th. 

    Preceeding this event is 4 days of marathon canoe racing in Quetico Provincial Park. More details will be psoted online with in the next few days, both on my Blog and on my Club Pages for the ...