The Winning Greenland Roller Paddle Review

My good friend Duncan Winning is a long term exponent of the Greenland paddle in Scotland. When he heard that Ian and I were going to the Small Isles he asked if we would care to review his new paddle the innovative Greenland Roller.

Ever modest, Duncan said that the original idea had come from Alistair Wilson, former K1 Olympian and founder of Lendal Paddles. However, Alistair had left Duncan to do all the development work as he was about to retire from Lendal.

Ian and I have pretty catholic tastes when it comes to paddles, we use Euros, GPs and Wings interchangeably and we have never understood why some people restrict themselves by limiting themselves to paddling just one type. For example if I want to do some rolling practice and muck about bracing in an Anas Acuta, I will take the GP every time. If I want to do some rockhopping in the Delphin then the Euro is a much better tool. If I want to cover distance or paddle-sail fast downwind then the Wing is the natural choice.

Anyway Duncan has been trialling the Greenland Roller for about 18 months now and thought it was ready for some wider exposure. He has designed it to be more powerful and faster than the traditional GP. One of the problems with the GP is that you don't get the nice laminar flow across the blade that you get with a Wing. If you attempt to load it too much it develops flutter and looses power. You can overcome this by canting the blade but this looses further power and efficiency. To address these problems Duncan and Alistair have come up with an innovative solution. The Greenland Roller has a slightly bigger blade area and inset into this are three rotating balls. There is a 2mm gap between the ball and the circumference of the hole within which it sits.

As the blade is drawn through the water the balls rotate and water can pass through more easily on only one side of the ball, depending on which way the ball is rotating. The beauty of the design is that the balls can rotate in either direction and you end up with a wonderful in built auto-correct mechanism that almost completely eliminates flutter and ensures smooth water flow.

Ian and I were sceptical at first but we each used the paddle for about 50 km on our 100 km paddle round the Small Isles. It really was a revelation...

...especially on the roughest day, crossing from the south coast of Canna and Sanday to Rum we had to cross the tide race and it was springs! An evil mixture of swell, clapotis, tide and wind created a confused sea. Ian was using the Euro I was using the Greenland Roller. It was noticeable how I was having a much easier time of it. In fact I had to slow down as Ian was falling behind as he had to put in so many brace strokes. A great advantage of the Greenland Roller is that it auto braces while you carry on with power strokes, the volume of the balls definitely helps here. Lastly, the Greenland Roller is the best rolling paddle I have ever tried. If you are having difficulty rolling this is the paddle for you. Paddling in a wind is also a breeze. The Bernoulli effect round the balls all but eliminates wind snatch and aerial flutter in stronger winds of about force 6.

So Ian and I award the Winning Greenland Roller 10/10 for both innovation and function. Patents are currently pending and licences are being negotiated with a number of well known paddle manufacturers. It is hoped that production models will reach the shops in about a year's time. We were sorry to hand it back.

A longer review of the Winning Greenland Roller will appear in issue 36 of Ocean Paddler magazine.

Taking the rough with the smooth in the Sound of Canna.

By the time Ian and I returned to our camp site on the south side of Canna, the ebb was well established and Canna harbour was well dry both to the east and...

 ...west of the foot bridge to Sanday. This meant that we would need to launch to the west of Sanday and paddle along its exposed south shore before crossing the Sound of Canna back to Rum.

To the west of Sanday the coast is sheltered by a series of offshore skerries but in the distance big water was breaking on the rocks of An Steidh to the south of Canna. The wind had not dropped as much as we had hoped. The wind was SSE F3-4. The XC weather forecast for the afternoon at Canna was S F4 and the BBC coastal forecast for north of Ardnamurchan Point was SSW F4-5. Off the east end of Sanday the ebb tide runs SW at 4- 5 knots springs  between Canna and Rum and an E going eddy runs along the south side of Sanday to its west end, where it joins the main SW going race. To add to this the air temperature with wind chill was -5C, though the sea temperature was a balmy 7C in comparison.

We set off through the skerries to the west of Canna in the last third of the spring ebb tide. At first we were sheltered by the skerries but even so it was bitterly cold.

This is what we met as soon as we left the shelter of the reefs. A 2 meter SW swell was creating a lot of clapotis as it reflected off the cliffs and met the wind blown chop from the SSE. The east going eddy managed to stir things up a little further.

Ian and I paddled side by side so that we could keep an eye on each other. I found it impossible to take photographs. I had a head-band mounted GoPro in my forward day hatch but felt unable to get it out. I didn't want to risk rafting up with Ian as heavily loaded kayaks can be lethal to hands in those sea conditions.

There are some great caves on the south coast of Sanday but needless to say we kept well out! As we approached the west end of Sanday, the swell built up as it became compressed in the funnel between Sanday and Rum. Ahead we could see confused water where the two tidal streams met. Then we were in the thick of it with water tying to leap off the surface of the sea. Despite the waves and swell we could see and feel huge swirls in the water and sweep strokes and braces were the order of the day. For an hour the conditions had our full attention as we slowly but steadily crossed the tide race.

Half way across the Sound of Canna, we at last entered the lee of Rum. The sea conditions calmed as the Sound widened and the tide approached slack. This is the view up Glen Guirdil on Rum.  Guirdil Bay in front of the bothy was a mass of white water. We were so glad we had not spent the previous night there...we would have been trapped!

 By the time we rounded the north end of Rum, we entered another World where all was calm.

 What a contrast! We paddled into...

...the sands of Samhnan Insir where we stopped...

 ...for first luncheon and a well deserved shot of Golden Steadying Liquid.

Sadly this sea urchin did not feel quite so refreshed.

Ian's account can be read here.

Canna island have a future as well as a past?

Morning dawned grey and blustery on Canna. The wind had got up during the night and I had to get up to tighten the tent guy lines.

It was also cold. Our neighbours, these highland ponies, were standing back to the wind on the heavily frosted grass.

Looking over Sanday and St Edward's, the low clouds were scudding over the Rum Cuillin. Though the waters in Canna harbour were deceptively calm we were glad we did not have to consider launching of the storm beach at Guirdil on Rum. From high on Sanday, the sea to the south was rough though the F5 wind of the previous night had dropped to F4 and the forecast was for it to drop further in the afternoon. Whatever, the spring ebb tide was running straight against the southerly wind. Thoughts of paddling round Canna evaporated and we decided to go for a walk and look at the conditions again towards the end of the ebb. We set off on our walk knowing that Canna had been populated for 9,000 years. We wondered what we would find.

 Near the causeway between Canna and Sanday we found these whale vertebrae...

 ...and this old abandoned bike. I wonder if its owner has left the island?

Canna is a volcanic island and the basalt ledges of its hills rise steeply from the shore. Sitting on its elevated ledge, Kate's cottage has one of the best views on the island. We got to chatting with two builders from the mainland. They were re-roofing a cottage which had recently burned down. The previous evening they had worked late to take advantage of the settled weather. From high on the roof they had spotted us paddling into Canna Harbour and news of our arrival had spread round the island.

Near the farm buildings we discovered the reason for the midnight disturbance. It had been a rabbit cull. Since a successful operation to eradicate rats (to preserve breeding bird stocks) the rabbit population of Canna has mushroomed. They breed like...well rabbits actually.

Last year the restaurant on Canna did a nice line in rabbit pie and I am sure that was nothing to do with its recent closure.

This lovely old farm dog padded out to say hello. His hang dog appearance suggested that it would be rabbit for dinner ....again.

Next to the farm buildings is this convenient loo and shower. The shower requires a £2 coin. The National Trust for Scotland office is just across the road. We called by to present our NTS membership cards but no one was in.

 The old farm dairy has been converted into a museum displaying...

 ...dairy and...

 ...fishing implements,...

...old photos (this is Kate sitting outside her cottage) and...

...curiosities brought to Canna by the Gulf Stream.

NTS via BBC

In 2012 the farm manager found an ancient cursing stone in the ancient graveyard  above the farm. 

NTS via BBC

Amazingly it was a perfect fit for the hollow which had been worn in the base of the Celtic Cross which stands nearby.

Just to the east of the farm is the ruin of the old corn mill. It was built in the 1780's and was originally water powered but was converted to steam at a later date.

We now continued our perambulation along the front at Canna Harbour. There was no mobile phone signal on Canna so we were pleased to find...

 ...a public phone box with one of the most marvellous views in the country. Inside, it didn't smell like a city call box either.

 It was fully functioning and accepted a variety of coins. Its signal was beamed by communications dish to feed into the rest of the World's telecoms network! We phoned home for a weather forecast and to book a room in the Rum hostel for later that night.

Next we passed Canna House. It contains a large library of Gaelic books and butterflies collected by the last private owners of Canna, Dr John Lorne Campbell and his wife Margaret Fay Shaw. In 1981 the National Trust of Scotland was gifted Canna by the Campbell family.

 We continued along the shore road towards the Protestant church but our attention was...

 ...captured by a sea eagle circling over Canna harbour. When you see a sea eagle like this, there is no mistaking it for a buzzard. No doubt the sea eagle also has rabbit for first second and third luncheons.

The Protestant church has a round pencil tower which is not common in Scotland but is frequent in Ireland. It was built in 1914 in memory of Robert Thom, a Clyde shipowner who bought Canna in 1881 and who did much to improve the island until he died in 1911. It was designed by Peter Chalmers who had built a similar church in the parish of Kilmore at Dervaig on Mull.

As we approached the pier we passed this fine bull. We saw a surprising number of breeds and crosses on Canna and Sanday: Aberdeen Angus, Luing, Belted Galloway, Highland and Shorthorn.

The Canna terminal building at the pier  has a toilet and water supply.

Nearby the old terminal building has now been converted to the community shop.

Between the shop and the pier warehouse we found a number of dishes and radio links that are part of the HebNet system that brings broadband to Canna and the other Small Isles.

It was now time to think about heading back to the kayaks. This old hedge tells its own story of how windy Canna can be. However, we were grateful that the wind had delayed our departure and allowed us to explore this delightful island. Sadly the population has recently fallen to 10 after all the families with children left. I do hope others will arrive to take their place and hopefully they be able to stay. Canna has had a wonderful past, I hope it has a future.

Further reading:
The past: Canna Local History Group.
The future: Isle of Canna Community Development Trust Ltd

Our torches were not the only lights on Canna.

 We erected our tents by torchlight on the machair above the beach.

 For a long time, a reddish afterglow from the sunset lingered in the west.

Then we got busy preparing an evening meal of Aberdeen Angus steak mince (made from one bit of steak, from one cow (and absolutely no added horse, or worse), carrots, onions and new potatoes done in the pressure cooker. Guinness proved a most excellent accompanying beverage.

With a startling suddenness we became aware that our head torches were no longer...

 ...the only source of light on Canna and Sanday.

By the time we went to bed, the Moon had risen high in the cold, clear sky and it was almost as bright as day.

I awoke with a start at the stroke of midnight. I looked out of the tent and noticed that the south wind had picked up and clouds were spilling through the gaps between the summits of the Cuillin of Rum.

But my attention was drawn by a commotion high on the hillside of Canna.

A 4x4 pick up truck was driving over a track and shining a search light round the field. What was going on....?