Facts about Pagaj & Åre

Facts about Åre & Pagaj

Author: Frederik Laursen November 2020

Which oar or paddle should I choose?
-is a question you could ask yourself if you want to start sea kayaking, or even if you are seriously bitten by this wonderful interest!

As a child, I was originally incredibly fascinated by the Greenlandic Eskimo people, the Inuit, and read all the books with the Greenlanders, Fridtjof Nansen, Knud Rasmussen, Mylius Erichsen, Peter Freuchen, etc. and was wildly fascinated by their sledge trips and meeting the hunters in the small settlements.
The incredible adaptation to the Arctic regions and utilization of the scarce resources is nothing short of amazing.
Imagine being able to build hunting gear, sea kayaks, oars, harpoons and cutting tools out of a little driftwood, seal skins and stones they found at the water’s edge!
The Greenlandic kayak and the Greenlandic oar are the result of at least 4500 years of development and are still some of the most ultimate tools in sea kayaking.

The Greenlandic oar is made of wood, often spruce, pine or cedar.
It is characterized by having a round or rounded square handle in the middle and an elongated blade at each end with or without “shoulders”.
The grain is not sliced, like a European paddle often is.
The slicing of the oar, or paddle, is the angle of the blades in relation to each other.
The traditional Greenlandic oar is not sliced, while most European paddles can be sliced at many different angles, perhaps even 360 degrees around.
For the Greenland paddle to be optimal, it should be adapted to the rower, both in terms of length and grip thickness to fit the size of the rower’s hands.
It is said that the Greenland oar is the most injury-preventing means of propulsion for a sea kayak, which is why many experienced kayakers prefer it to a European paddle.
Furthermore, the Greenland oar is excellent for technique, sculling and easy to learn to roll the kayak with.
Modern versions of the Greenland paddle are also made in carbon fiber and in divisible versions for easy transport and storage.

You could say that the Euro paddle is a kind of further development of the oar, with optimized blade shape, new and strong materials such as plastic or composite materials such as fiberglass, carbon and Kevlar.
Furthermore, the Euro paddle can often be extended 10-15 cm and rotated 360 degrees to adapt to the needs of the individual rower.
Some Euro paddles are adapted for fast rowing by shaping the blade with a kind of spoon shape.
This creates an optimal trajectory in the water and thus an optimal transfer of energy from the rower’s grip in the water to speed in the kayak, for example when racing.
These paddles are called wing paddles and require special training and experience to use.
The aforementioned slicing of the paddle provides an advantage in fast rowing, as the slicing works into the most ergonomically optimal way of rowing and the top blade of the paddle is angled so that it provides the least possible wind resistance.

Watch a video about injury-preventing forward rowing and how to move the body oar/paddle in the optimal way to achieve optimal propulsion in the kayak: HERE

To choose the right paddle/ oar, you can seek advice from Lars Gram, who has some very sensible advice on choosing the right tool: HERE

You can do the same with Andreas Holm, aka “Kajakholm” on this website: HERE