Before long, Gabriela’s first Greenland Paddle was followed by a touring paddle and a storm paddle. She couldn’t help sharing her enthusiasm for paddling a stick. Fellow paddlers started to ask to get one as well.

It took another half a dozen paddles and the encouragement of friends to make her experience and the passion for the grace and beauty of the wooden paddle available to the wider paddling community. Gabriela started making Greenland Paddles as Machaon Wood Creations in 2011.

Machaon is the French name for the swallow tail butterfly, tying together parts of Gabriela’s traveling past and her kayak rolling career – the butterfly roll starting her off on that learning curve.