There Is A Cure…
Go surfing. Thereafter, you will start selling off tuiliq, GPs, SOFs and recognize no need for a bearded mentor anymore than a coach giving stars. Butt time sliding down waves is the best teacher. Rolling is fun only in so much it gets you right back up to paddle out to catch another wave. 
sing
I know… I’m probably a very minute minority in breaking free from G-style addiction.
hmm… maybe it’s the salt water…
Whitewater and great lakes surfing hasn’t broken the addiction yet. Maybe it’s something about the sodium content combined with adrenaline that makes some one get rid of the skinny stick…
keep at it
there are other blade shapes. I never stuck at it long enough to get efficient but have seen many,many people use them. My gut sense is that in the long run for non-sprint settings they can teach you a lot about technique with less peak stress on connective tissue.
Blade wobble
– Last Updated: Mar-01-07 3:59 PM EST –
If you pull a broom handle through the water it will wobble. There's all these theories about water colliding behind it and the stick wobbling because it's traveling back and forth to least resistance. So, round objects wobble too.
That wobble will go away and nobody has a real great answer why. I believe it's because your body gets used to handling the paddle with subtle arm and hand movements. BTW: I have a few Euros that wobble too.
It's a tool and doesn't require you to become an Eskimo in the process. I surf with mine and do everything including sprint as fast as big blade paddlers. My rpm's are just a little faster like a bicycle in low gear.
The forward cant of the blade thing became popular with Maligiag's (Greenland Natl. Champ) video a few years back. I know that's not the secret to blade wobble. You can do that or just use it and it will go away with a little time. There's no rule that you can't use various style paddles if you want too.
I’m just a carrier
Yes, I have the virus (Spyroqajaqus Arcticii) - but it has not manifested into full blown Acquired Inuit Proficiency Syndrome (AIPS).
Curiosity (from design/use perspective) led me to a GP*, which led to a desire for narrower sea kayak, then rolling, then a narrower SOF, more paddles, etc. It really was as if the GP had a viral influence on my other paddling gear (but not wardrobe) and interests (without shifting my overall focus to rolling or building).
Fortunately my QCC, ski, wing, and other toys let me stay fairly symptom free much of the time.
As for my outward AIPS symptoms, they may not be what they seem. I do use GP mostly, and now Aleut too, but don’t really consider myself a “Greenland” or “G-style” paddler. I just prefer those paddles for most of the paddling I do.
Yes, I do have a SOF. It’s a means to and end though, more than any “Greenland” passion or desire to do 60+ roll types (a close look at the lines show non-Greenland influences). It was the only building method that was appropriate for me at the time, and got me the long narrow roll friendly kayak I wanted (and no one sells). An early prototype/testbed. In the process I developed a good dose of Greenland appreciation. I also make my own paddles, but also means to an end. Quicker, cheaper, and more custom. I’ve only made 3 so far though - GP/Storm/Aleut (the Aleut again being another gear experiment more than anything) and a couple norsaq (that I haven’t really tried to make use of yet). I’ve worn my tuiliq in water only once. No symposiums, no lessons - someday maybe. Appreciate the value of such (same goes for BCU), but never been much of a club member type. I do have my own grey beard (but keep it very short to avoid being mistaken for old or wise).
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- Looking back, I suspect my first GP being carbon may have given me a mutated strain. I have developed a far more serious condition form it now: Nonspecific Paddlesports Complex - with gear (design/function) obsession - and delusions of commercialization potential.
Takes a Little Time is All
"That wobble will go away and nobody has a real great answer why. I believe it’s because your body gets used to handling the paddle with subtle arm and hand movements."
I first had trepidations caused by the GP seemingly wanting dive under and trip the boat, but now the blade seems to have no such desires at all. I agree it is just a matter of getting used to it. Frankly I find using a GP in an extended manner a hassle and more trouble than a Euro, but I also find it as easy if not easier to do all those rudders and draws people talk about with a GP as a Euro. Hersey I suppose, but not sure I find rolling with a GP any easier than with a Euro aside from blade orientation.
Then there is that gravel/bubbling sound to work on too. Suggestions?
That Sound
– Last Updated: Mar-01-07 8:04 PM EST –
I like that sound. You can barely feel the vibration in your hand, too. You can choose to make that sound or not by the way you plant the blade. If you let the blade drop gently into the water, it's quiet. If you jab the blade in you force air down and it makes that cool sound. When I first started using the gp I would naturally make that 'scraping' sound. Now I have to think about jabbing to do it.
If you apply too much power
at the catch of the greenland paddle stroke it will suck air down with the paddle and cause ventilation. To eliminate it you need to get the blade to bury faster and apply power a little slower. The shape of tips of the paddle can also effect this, so experiment with different styles of tips and see what works best for you. I have used greenland paddles that are very sensitive to ventilating and others with different shape tips that ventilate much less.
Hmmmm. Have an 8’ sitka spruce
board, quarter sawn, aged, stable, soundboard quality. But it doesn’t sound like one ought to start with something that good. Might rather make soundboards or canoe paddles out of it anyway.
"gravel/bubbling sound "
Ventilation, as the others have said. It also sounds like a small toilet flushing or sucking drain.
This is really useful feedback. Your GP is speaking to you and saying your stroke, or paddle, or both need work!
Should be silent in water during pull (at any angle, cadence, power, amount of blade buried). No kerplunk on catch, no grating through pull, little or no splash on exit either. (I’m finding Aleut similar. Catch and pull are silent, but so far exit is a bit less clean - though still quieter than euro/wing).
Should be self correcting over time (if technique) - but along the way you might try a more relaxed grip, find the optimal cant angle as part of this natural grip vs. consciously applying it, use more push/punch than pull, experiment with higher angle stroke, etc.
So far I’ve only found one GP (out of maybe two dozen tried) that I couldn’t get pretty silent, and it had really fat/blunt edges & tips. Even that one didn’t gurgle - just kerplunked. Drove me nuts.