Surf-ski whirligig

I made this wind driven whirligig for my sister-in-law who recently had her 40th birthday. I thought it would be a nice gift since she is a proficient lifesaver and competes in surf-ski racing. Surf-skis are used worldwide for surf lifesaving, surf kayaking and for training and competition on flat-water or ocean racing. Today she’s actually leaving Sweden to participate in “Rescue 2012” in Adelaide, Australia.

I got the idea for this whirligig when I saw the traditional “INDIAN IN A CANOE WHIRLIGIG”. I thought it would be nice to make it more three-dimensional like a model and adapted towards my sister-in-laws big interest.

The paddling figure is carved from a piece of linden tree and then painted and varnished three times to withstand harsh outdoor conditions. This was my first attempt to carve facial expressions. At first I planned to leave the face blank, but it seemed a bit impersonal. The degree of carving difficulty was lowered considerably by making a pair of sunglasses, instead of attempting to carve eyes. The surf-ski is made from a piece of pine and painted white. The paddles are made from birch. The short tube that is inserted from the bottom has a ball from a ball bearing inserted at the top. Likewise the shaft going into the tube is prepared with a roller from a roller bearing on its top so that there will be a long lasting low friction suspension of the whirligig. The whirligig has been tested outdoors and works great. It either paddles forward or backwards and spins around with the wind gusts. I will try to add a small video of it in action when I have it available .

I was glad to find out that my sister-in-law appreciated the gift a lot!

P.S. Those of you that understand Swedish might find it interesting to listen to this short radio interview of my sister-in-law that was made today before her departure to Australia.