U of Cambridge MAA West Coast Paddle

Readers of the blog will note my affinity for Eastern North American style canoe paddles. West coast paddles are certainly beautiful in their own right but don't really fit into my own personal style of solo woodland paddling. On occasion my amateur eyes see overlap between the paddle designs where these paddles could be used to effectively paddle a canoe here in the East rather than the ocean going Dugouts of the West Coast. One such example is the Etched Coast Salish paddle from UBC's Museum of Anthropology posted on back in 2013. It's slender blade and roll top grip could be easily used to paddle a cedar canvas canoe in the back-country.

Coast Salish:  Musqueam

Object Number: Nbz911

Image © UBC Museum of Anthropology

Photographed by Jessica Bushey

Creative Common License

A similar style of paddle identified as being from the West Coast is found in the collection at the University of Cambridge Museum of Archeology and Anthropology over in the UK. Unfortunately, the museum's collections search doesn't seem to allow linking to a specific page, but here are some photos and details released under their Creative Commons license. It has a long slender grip and a willow leaf shaped blade with a simple, but pleasant bit of surface painting.

Canoe Paddle

MMA  Accession No.: E 1904.386/Record 1

Paddle with leaf-shaped blade with painted green and red lines

Source Date: ?- - 1904