John wrote; >My comment was not directed at traditional boats. In fact, I have explained >elsewhere why some Greenland boats probably needed the long overhangs due to >their lack of reserve buoyancy and generally flattish bottoms. Don't know if >they adopted their ends because of this or the boats got flat and low >because they had long ends first. Interestingly the longish ends seem >confined to the Eastern Arctic. > Greenlander H.C. Petersen has some interesting comments and anecdotes about overhangs on page 45 of "Skinboats of Greenland". According to Petersen the shape of the stem and stern was "considered especially important in areas where the sea is often covered with a sheet of thin ice". Petersen goes on to relay a story in which one kayaker lived and another died due to the shape of their bows when the kayakers were forced to face into a rapidly advancing sheet of pack ice that could not be outrun. One kayak rose over the ice without damage and the other was forced under, severing the skin, with fatal results. Petersen notes "there are stories of ice cutting through the kayaker as well as the kayak." I find it interesting that Petersen goes on to state that long overhangs were not favored by seal catchers who hunted with harpoons since the long ends slapped the water in choppy conditions and frightened the seals. I looked through the text but could find no mention of the overhangs covering early sonar devices on either the East or West Greenland kayaks. I'm sure that the good doctor would have the scoop.... Greg Stamer Orlando, Florida *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Wed Jul 28 1999 - 19:43:29 PDT
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