Delmarva Paddlers Retreat 2009

Paddling Delaware and the eastern shore of Maryland and Virginia

Here are some of the photos albums others have assembled on the event.  Every year there is something new and this year besides having a large contingent from Greenland we had team competition Sunday for the "Wedding of Palo"

http://www.qajaqusa.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=319925

http://www.williamtorres.com/delmarva2009/

At http://community.webshots.com/user/delmarvakayak you will find several albums from Sunday at the Retreat, a large one with the Wedding of Palo competition, view it using slideshow and set the refresh rate a 2 or 3 seconds for the best effect.  There is also a condensed version, and one of the practice one team in particular was doing before the competition.  A set of the rope off competition grudge match between two Greenlanders , Karen Jensen the reigning gold medalist in the event and Jens Jeremiassen.  Also you will see an album of candid's. 

The "Palo's Wedding" competition is taken from the legend originally put forth in a 1933 film by Knud Rassussen, see below, and adapted to become a competition.  First leg was a kayak sprint, then a paddle backwards leg, third leg was pulling a "seal" and had to hand it off to the bride's dad and then paddle to the finish with the bride on the back of the kayak.  It was silly fun at its best.

From http://www.rudyfoto.com/grl/bookfilmguide.html, The Marriage of Palo (aka Palo's Wedding). This classic 1933 silent film was shot in black and white and later edited with foley sound and voiceovers. Sadly the director, Knud Rasmussen, Greenland's famous explorer and ethnographer, died of food poisoning while shooting the production in Ammassalik, Greenland. This is a classic Greenlandic love story, involving Palo, a woman, and two hunters/suitors. Better than any other document on film, Palo shows all aspects of the lives of the Inuit Greenlanders prior to the arrival of Christianity in Greenland. The kayak-chase, drumming-duel, and polar-bear-hunt scenes will leave you breathless! This one is hard to find, anywhere.