[Paddlewise] Inverbon and Bifid bows

Some thoughts on Baidarka bows from the eminent anthropologist Prof. 
Peregrine Inverbon.



It is so gratifying that paddlers are taking an interest in the 
technological innovations of Inuit kayak builders and particularly that of 
bow development which exhibits such imaginative diversity. The Inuit were 
highly sensitive people who could detect small variations in force that they 
detected by testing fluid flow around various body parts. Although not 
always successfully nor comfortable for the testee. Some parts had no 
relevance to boats as they were shaped in such a way that they could never 
be used and others provided misleading results due to scale. Nevertheless, 
being an open minded people, they learned from their mistakes.



Due to the effects of scale, boats built along the shape of body parts did 
not always perform as well as expected. It could not have taken them long to 
recognize that friction and wavemaking increased at differing rates and in 
different proportion to size. Being somewhat nomadic they did not remain in 
one place long enough to build test tanks. They solved the problem 
ingeniously by towing wives behind their kayaks and measuring the drag by 
pulling on the tow line. In this manner, they discovered the importance of 
narrow beam as skinny wives towed much more easily than fat wives. Fat 
wives, however complained less about being towed and the noise of thin wives 
complaining about the cold water hindered the scientist's concentration. 
This problem turned out to be an asset when an Inuit hydrodynamicist held 
his wife's head under water to shut her up and serendipitously discovered 
the bulb bow.



None of this would have been possible without a form of higher math and we 
are indebted to Professor Klohr who observed what appeared to be random 
arrangements of rocks of a King Island beach that he spotted as a form of 
Inuit Braille writing.



Klohr was able to translate some of what he saw but some passages stymied 
him. At a conference in Calcutta he showed pictures of the stone Braille to 
Professor Hoomani who recognized mathematical patterns in the parts that 
baffled Klohr. His research revealed that they were calculations of wetted 
surface using Simpson's Rule and resistance calculations using something 
similar to Holtrop's formula. All, of course, predating Simpson and Holtrop. 
The calculations reveal that the Inuit believed wave making resistance 
increased with the fifth power of speed and friction with the third power. 
This caused them to overestimate their power output. Unfortunately, many 
mathematicians had excessive faith in their results and, overconfident, 
challenged polar bears to arm wrestling contests. The polar bears, unable to 
do math and not knowing they were weaker than the Inuit, invariably won. 
This would not have been a serious problem except that the winner got to eat 
the loser. Hoomani believes that this explains why there are so few Inuit 
mathematicians today.



Why, then, did not other Inuit groups develop the bifid bow?  Klohr believes 
that the western Arctic promoted more hydrodynamic research than the central 
or eastern Arctic because they did not have the same large herds of caribou 
that made Crotch Dirigibles possible. Paulson, on the other hand,  suggests 
that Haplo group C lacked the genetic mathematical skills of  the M217 group 
thus explaining the lack of hydrodynamic research in the Eastern Arctic. We 
may never know. The Inuit were practical people and may have just seen no 
need to research hydrodynamics when they had the Crotch Dirigible and a 
thriving cocaine importing trade.



I suppose we will never know for certain although we may speculate with 
certainty.



Sincerely,



  Dr. Peregrine Inverbon, Ph.d., DD, LL.d, Ph.g



Translated from the original by John Winters
***************************************************************************
PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed
here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire
responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author.
Submissions:     PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net
Subscriptions:   PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net
Website:         http://www.paddlewise.net/
***************************************************************************