: Try for as light a paddle as possible. The weight tires young paddlers more
: than the paddling effort. And keep the paddle long enough so that they
: don't hit the boat. If you go for carving a greenland paddle your daughter
: can help out with building it -- and she should certainly be allowed to
: decorate it as she sees fit.

: Just some thoughts

: PGJ
Paul,

Thanks for the great suggestions. You mention weight which is the biggest reason I'm planning on making the paddle instead of buying one. She and I have paddled together and she a hard time with the weight of her stick more than the length, so I wanted to get one that is truly sized to her. She even picked up an ultra light (in my opinion) carbon paddle yesterday and said it was really heavy but it was like a 230 or 240 so it was huge.

As for her decorating the paddle, I plan on having her pick out several types of wood that she likes and just using them to incorporate a design for the paddle. If she wants to carve stuff or draw on it, that's her deal. It's mostly going to be her making the paddle other than the basic shape of it, so she should have no trouble decorating it.

Thanks,
Frank