Greenland T Review

The Greenland T is an interesting boat to review. The first thing you notice is how it affects even non paddlers. As an experiment I had the Greenland t sitting on the beach with 12 other boats and watched 5 different people walk past. 4 out of the 5 stoped and looked at the Greenland T and totally ignored the other boats. The classic Greenland lines are absolutely beautiful. The hull has a shallow “v” hull with hard chines and reasonable rocker and a really sexy look.

 My initial thought was it would be an advanced paddlers boat as the initial stability would probably be light. Well, I got that one wrong. My partner Jo is a beginner paddler and she just paddled off into a 15 knot wind bouncing around in the wind wave without a second thought. I was also surprised when after 2 hours of paddling down, across and up wind she did not deploy the skeg. When I asked why she said she forgot it was there. The combination of low volume and hard chines meant she had little wind effect and was able to point and go using the hull.  The other problem I had was prying her out of it so I could paddle the boat.

On flat water the boat was fast, stable and had good initial stability. It is not as fast as the Wind 585 but I was able to cruse at 8.5km easily. As you push harder you feel the hull starting to drag but it is not meant to be a sprint boat.  When you throw the boat round the chines work really well carving lovely predictable turns with a good solid secondary stability. Then I started doing rolls and what a dream. I now have a Greenland stick on order and have decided to learn a heap of Greenland rolls. It is the best boat I have rolled and even my old, inflexible body can do hand rolls in the Greenland T.

I took it out on some small surf with some instructors. The boat appeared to surf really well and handle forward, side and backwards surfing well. I say appeared because I could not get much of a turn myself. It is a really bad boat to get people out of as they always find an excuse to paddle just a bit longer.  The consensus on the day was a really good day boat that offered more options than most boats. Two of the instructors ordered a boat at the end of the day! That speaks volumes for the boat.

The boat also is very female friendly. Jo found the low back very easy to do rescues with as most women don’t have the upper body strength that blokes do so they find it an easy boat to get back into. Also the combination of goods looks and easy handling and compact size appeals to women and I would not be surprise if I don’t sell more Greenland T’s to women that blokes. 

Deck fit out

The Greenland T has good quality carry toggles each end but I find I just grab the end of the boat rather than the toggles. The deck line stop short of the bow and stern but combined with the toggles are adequate for  safety. They are recessed with strong deck fittings. The front hatch is a 10 inch recessed hatch allowing good access to the front hold. As with all the Tahe boats I have seen the attention to detail is excellent with the front hatch flow coated and no sharp points to snag dry bags.

The deck has a stipple finished panels with an artistic swirl of gloss going through the panels. It is very effective in making the deck look really good.  Alongside the cockpit there is an angled area that reduces the risk if clipping the boat with the paddle. The cockpit rim is wide and strong enabling a good seal on the spray deck. The back of the cockpit rim is easily accessible making it very easy to put the spray deck on. The seat is comfortable with a small low back rest that does a good job without restricting your ability to lay on the back deck.

 My oversized feet are a bit big for the boat and the foot pegs don’t quite go far enough forward. None of the other people who have paddled the boat had a problem, just me. On my boat I will remove the foot pegs and put in some foam to make it more comfortable. The boat is really designed for the smaller paddler but my 100 plus kg body does fit and it is such a good boat to paddle I am still  going to have one.

The rear deck has a drain down the middle that drains the rear hatch , dramatically increases the strength of the back deck and has to stainless steel pins that can be used as locking points or towing points. Once again you can push anywhere on the deck and the boat feels solid. I am very confident you will not break this boat doing silly things in waves.  The day hatch has a 6 inch hatch cover allowing adequate access to the hatch even in bumpy conditions.  The rear hatch is a large oval hatch allowing easy access but the rear hatch is quite small as you would expect in a low volume boat. It is big enough to store my wheels that I use to wheel the boat to the water so you could use it for a weekender or longer if you are a minimalist camper.

The skeg is huge and considering how well the boat handles without a skeg I have not figured why it is so big. Maybe they expect you to paddle in 60 knots or something. Anyhow the conclusion is the Greenland T is destined to be a classic boat that lives on forever. It is the perfect day boat that offers so much more than most other day boats and will certainly be a big hit with women.