Canoeing Origins
Arctic peoples adapted to barren and often fatal conditions and created cultures that cope with the world’s most inhospitable climate - the search for food in the Artic wastes led to the water. Driftwood was split and shaped into a skeleton which was covered with sealskin to create the first canoes. These craft were used as a platform to hunt seals, otters, caribou, and fish. To hunt these waters Arctic canoeists braved below freezing temperatures, gale force winds, ice cold waters, shifting ice floes, and some of the roughest open waterways on earth not to mention attacks by elephant seal and polar bear!
Because of the barren nature of the land, driftwood logs that were split with stone and bone wedges were profoundly precious as the basis for boats. Lashed with sinew and covered with sealskin, canoes made the difference between life and death for many communities. From this common framework, designs varied considerably - depending on the needs of the hunters. Each Inuit group in North had a distinctive kind of kayak which was carefully built to meet local conditions of hunting, sea, and land or ice portaging. As a result, some types are far more seaworthy than others, and the weight of the hull varies, even within a basic design. Usually kayaks are long - varying between 3 metres and 9 metres - narrow (not more than 38 cm to 82 cm across), and low - 17 cm to 39 cm. In addition to basic framework, which was often beautifully painted, the hunter would fasten his weapons below the deck, using thongs, these weapons, included a harpoon, a lance and a club.
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