: Roger - I love the picture! I can't wait to get my daughter's boat finished
: and on the water.

: How long is that GP paddle and how big is your son? I need to sort something
: for a paddle for my daughter. I originally had bought her a Bending
: Branches kid's paddle (Cattail), but even that is WAY too big.

I haven't measured the paddle. I sized it using standard GP anthropometric measurements. Looks like someone has put in a link for that. Foster noticed that the paddle looks a bit short. I think the reason for that is the boat. The boat is oversized so the child has farther to reach over the side. Also, in the case of my boys, the paddling stroke is landing the blade tip quite a ways out from the boat so not much of the blade is catching the water for the stroke.
I would recomend adding 6-8 inches in length to the paddle. The width though looks to be good. I had my boys make a "C" shape with their hands to get the basic width dimension. The waist shape and dimensions are also based on the boys hands. I can get you measurements of this paddle later on.
To make the paddle I cut out the blank (top, bottom and sides) and then used a low angle block plane and a real nice veratis spoke shave to carve the paddle. I did the carving at R2K on a picnic table. It took about 1 1/2 hours. If you look through the posted pics you'll see a couple of photos of me making lots of fire starter.
The boys are between 3 1/2 and 4 feet tall.

Here is a picture of the younger boy with the paddle. Please note the paddle has not been sanded or oiled yet.

PS. Make sure your spoke shave and plane are REALLY sharp!