[Paddlewise] : RE: Skinboats of Greenland

John Winters wrote (and I think Chuck may have snipped some):
>>
One of the things that puzzles me throughout much of what I have read and
heard about traditional boats has to do with the insistence that the Inuit
usually had a practical reason (performance related) for any
characteristic.
I would suggest something different.  It seems reasonable that the Inuit
had
aesthetic values that they expressed in the objects they made.  It would
seem likely that they might have shaped their end profiles etc. with an eye
towards what "looked attractive" just like  boat builders around the world
have done for centuries.
>>
Chuck Holst replied:
>
I think there is no doubt that the Inuit had an esthetic sense. That they
may have applied that esthetic sense to their kayaks would not be
surprising. I'm as yet only a short way into the book, yet is is clear that
the Inuit tinkered a lot with the construction and design of their boats.
Petersen shows five or six ways just to fasten the bow pieces together,
some of which involve notching the pieces so they fit jigsaw fashion.
<SNIP>
One thing Petersen does stress over and over again is making a kayak that
does not creak or a paddle that does not drip and warn the seals away.
<

The attitude I often come across in kayak certain kayak circles, "the Eskimo
way is the right way"  sometimes seems to approach the fanaticism of a
religious cult. Before I try to defend functionality (vs. the aesthetics) of
Eskimo kayaks, I want to make it clear that I'm not in that cult and I don't
believe that if the Eskimos did it, it is necessarily the right way for the
rest of us.
Chucks last sentence helps illustrate how important the hunting function of
the kayak was to the Eskimo and to what lengths they would go to achieve
that. This also leads me to speculate that the bone joints (at points of
frame contact in some Eskimo kayaks) were not primarily to prevent wear (as
I once guessed), or to allow the frame to flex even more (as some have
speculated), but more likely were there to prevent squeaking). Some things
of benefit to a hunter would probably be seen as a disadvantage by a
recreational paddler. For instance, hunters would most likely want a kayak
to weatherhelm strongly so they could sneak up on a prey from downwind
(where they are unlikely to be smelled and are less likely to be heard)
without having to do much to control their kayak's direction. A strong
weatherhelm would drive most modern paddlers to mount a (decidedly
non-Eskimo) rudder on their kayaks.
That all said, I think John is wrong when he implies that aesthetics may
have been as important as function in determining the shape of an Eskimo
kayak. Where does ones aesthetic sense come from anyhow? A lot of Eskimos
went out hunting in kayaks and never came back (to reproduce--or feed the
children they already had). Function was very important to their survival.
Even if it was their aesthetic sense that helped determine the kayaks shape,
those who came back and raised children would have passed their aesthetics
on to their children either by folklore or through their genes. In other
words even an Eskimo's aesthetic sense had probably been shaped by the grim
trim (an early death for the unfittest) either through cultural evolution
(memes) or physical evolution (genes). The closer an Eskimos aesthetic sense
met what was needed for the seaworthiness and hunting functions of his kayak
the more likely that same aesthetic sense would spread widely through the
Eskimo population.
I once thought the high "dog's head" shaped bow of a Haida Canoe was
ornamental (like, I assumed, a figurehead on an old wooden ship). (Great old
picture of a real one in the--I believe--Aug. 99 edition of Canoe and
Kayak).  I assumed that the bowsprit was ornamental or spiritual in nature
until one day I was watching a TV show that had some old footage of a tribe
surfing their cedar canoe into the beach (not the Curtis film). It was
amazing to watch a large canoe with many paddlers aboard come surfing into
the beach with its "dog's head" laying just on top of the green water in
front of the breaker while the dog's neck split the water into two graceful
sheets of water that arced away from the canoe and fell completely outside
its gunnels leaving the inside of the canoe dry. This had a profound effect
on my thoughts on the matter of aesthetics vs. function (and my admiration
for the ingenuity of native peoples in general). Maybe the carved figures on
the wooden ships also had a function that was lost in antiquity (or no one
was willing to talk about). Anyone know about this? I once even tried out a
Haida style bow on a kayak prototype but redesigned the final prototype with
a much different bow. The Haida style bow on the prototype threw way too
much spray into the air as it parted one foot high wave tops. It might have
worked well to keep the bow up in the surf, but due to the major
disadvantage in the much more common condition of short steep waves I had
eliminated it long before I ever got to surf the prototype in breakers. A
bow like that would need to be well out of the water to avoid making spray
in smaller waves (and a high enough bow would have added too much windage
and offered a strong gust too long a lever arm with which to help torque a
small craft over into a capsize).
Disclaimer: I design kayaks that usually have overhanging ends (and would do
so even if  Eskimo's kayaks had more vertical ends like John appears to
favor for his designs).  Even if my aesthetic sense said no to overhangs and
a curved shearline I would still use them for many strictly functional
reasons (none of which are to run up on a sheet of ice--which, however, may
have been important to an Eskimo). Appealing to the shared aesthetic sense
of the majority of paddlers will certainly help one sell more kayaks.
However, if most paddler's idea of  what's visually appealing  gets in the
way of functions that are important to me (as an advanced recreational
paddler rather than a kayak hunter) those features wouldn't be on a kayak I
designed for myself (no matter how pretty it looked). Fortunately for me, I
don't have a conflict here with my aesthetic sense.
Matt Broze
http://www.marinerkayaks.com

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