Re:[Paddlewise] Eskimos started a project that will never be finished

All well and good, and I'm about to be bashed by the anti-blood sports
league, but I prefer a hand made Osage Orange, yew, or Hickory long bow to
a 30.06 for the minimal hunting I do/did.  It's effective enough for my
purposes.

I won't go into the honoring the spirits of the game/water..

Wynne
Americus, GA

At 08:18 PM 7/24/98 -0400, Nick Schade wrote:
>
>I think too much emphasis is placed on the experience of the Eskimos.
>Before you get too mad, I do think they did an excellent job evolving what
>is very likely the best boat and paddle for their purposes. However, they
>were living with a very different set of circumstances than the modern
>paddler. They were a stone age culture (accept for the last century or
>less), they lived where no trees grew and wood was very valuable. This is
>not to mention they were hunting, had gods to pacify and women to impress,
>paddled through pack-ice and ice flows, went out in all kinds of weather,
>etc.
>
>The Inuits needed a paddle that could be made with a sharpened rock, from a
>very limited resource, which had to survive hard use without breaking,
>could be used for silent stalking of prey and put aside while grabbing a
>spear, all while providing reasonable efficient propulsion. It is quite
>possible that they were willing to sacrifice propulsion efficiency in order
>to improve some other aspect of their needs. For example some people now
>like take-apart paddles even though they are heavier than one-piece. The
>ease of storage is worth the added weight. Others like green even though
>blue is obviously the superior color.
>
>Just because a tool was very efficient in meeting the varied needs of a
>subsistance hunter does not indicate much about its suitability for any
>other purpose. The characteristics useful to the modern paddler are
>different from the original Inuit. It is only logical that the tools used
>now are different.
>
>Modern modeling techniques may not be complete, but does not mean they
>should be discounted. Trial and error will always be an important part of
>kayak and paddle design, however since the kayak is a highly evolved
>design, the difference between one trial and another error is getting more
>difficult to quanitify by going out for a paddle. This is where modern
>analysis techniques are useful. Just because people want to use those tools
>does not mean they think the Eskimos were wrong, only that there may still
>be room for small improvements. If they try and find that the Eskimos had
>in fact developed the ultimate boat or paddle, it will be modern techniques
>that show it. Until that happens they won't take someone elses word for it.
>
>
>
>Nick Schade
>Guillemot Kayaks
>c/o Newfound Woodworks, 67 Danforth Brook Rd, Bristol, NH 03222
>(603) 744-6872
>
>Schade_at_guillemot-kayaks.com
>http://www.guillemot-kayaks.com/
>
>>>>>"It's not just Art, It's a Craft!"<<<<
>
>
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