RE: [Paddlewise] It's criminal

Hi Scott,
I called Maligiaq on his cell phone to verify your comments and sure enough
they are true, but there is more to the story. He was busy with rolling
practice, but said he needed to work on his "phone roll" anyway. Here are
some excerpts from our discussion.....................

"My grandfather told me they never had any warranty claims, but neither did
they have any return customers. The first time an ICY wave broke over the
deck, the boat and paddler would go to the bottom of the sea. 
Since we Inuits never paddled alone, there were many witnesses to the poor
safety record of these boats.
These were unpopular models that pilled up in showrooms. Once kayak safety
advocate Ralphiaq Nadligar identified serious safety deficiencies, dealers
had to virtually give them away.
Ultimately, tribal leaders set rigid safety standards and banned these boats
from sale. Those still in service were typically given to wives for use in
sheltered areas catching small fish. Many of us Inuits had multiple wives so
the boats were usually given to the oldest or most annoying wife. There was
still some loss of life, but husbands didn't seem to mind and the remaining
wives were just glad that the boat (and the other wife) was gone.
A woman's rights advocate got up-in-arms about the mounting death toll, but
she was soon banished. Since she was the ONLY woman's rights advocate in
Greenland, nothing was ever done.
Eventually, the last wife dumb enough to actually paddle one of these
engineering disasters disappeared. The remaining (smart) wives relegated
them for use as home storage containers. Occasionally husbands would
complain, but these remaining (smart) wives would remind their husbands of
three facts which proved crucial to the development of modern Inuit culture:
 1-I have a big sharp knife
 2-These boats sink easily and can be used for coffins as well as storage
 3-You may be bigger than me, but you have to go to sleep some time
As one of our women put it: 'That was the end of that.'
When visiting America recently I saw a similar boat in a kayak shop I
visited. I think they called it a 'recreational kayak' and they had quit a
few of them. It was made from different material, but the similarity was
unmistakable. There was a couple there shopping and the wife smiled
knowingly as she was encouraging her husband to buy one. They both seemed
nice enough, but he didn't seem to be very smart. Anyway, I assume he was
going to use it to keep his tools in. 
I was surprised you Americans were still using these for storage given their
inefficient shape for stacking. "............................

Anyway, that's how the discussion might have gone if I had Maligiaq's phone
number.

Steve Brown

-----Original Message-----
......
   Interesting to note that several of the skinboat designs used by the
Inuit 
do not fit into your criteria for a "kayak."
Scott
So.Cal.
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