Well, mostly. Kiliii (of Seawolf Kayaks) and Brian Schulz (of Cape Falcon Kayak) decided to see whether they could build a traditional qajaq in the Inuit style. They used driftwood and scrap lumber for the frame and hide for the covering. It took about 300 man hours to complete and it turned out that stretching the hide over the frame was a big mistake as the hide, exposed to alternating periods of wet and dry, shrank and warped the frame which significantly impacted the performance of the qajaq. This resulted in the early retirement of the boat. It makes for an interesting read, nevertheless. Here is a link to the story which is complete with photographs: http://www.seawolfkayak.com/2010/03/31/spt-article-fulltext The picture of Kiliii paddling the qajaq across Nehalem bay is hauntingly similar to photographs depicting early 20th Century Inuit paddlers and their qajaqs. I am a johnny-come-lately to Greenland designs and building techniques but I don't feel too bad... almost everyone else is too. I'm just a little later than they are. It's a fascinating history and it's good to see people experimenting with this. I'd say that this is probably a truly "green" kayak. Thanks to a Facebook posting by Andrew Elizaga (the Dash Point Pirate) for the link to this. Craig Jungers Moses Lake, WA www.nwkayaking.net *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************Received on Wed May 12 2010 - 14:26:31 PDT
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