The Dash Point Pirate

Kayak Models

A friend showed me his models of arctic kayaks yesterday.  They are antiques (19th century) made by the natives.  The construction details are incredible.  The Greenland kayak on the right has bone rubstrips pegged to the the stem and stern of the kayak.  Note the bone pegged to the edges of the paddle.  The west arctic kayak on the left looks like a Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta type.

Maligiaq Likes Meat

When I took lessons at George Gronseth’s Kayak Academy a few years ago I noticed a moldering white Hypalon-coated skin−on−frame Greenland kayak in his storage shed, and the rotting skeletal remains of an old baidarka. George regularly offers classes on Greenland paddle making and has the distinction of being the first outsider ever to train at a kayak training camp in Greenland in 1990. The year before, he had met Greenland kayaking champion John Peterson and kayak historian John Heath in a traditional kayaking event in Kodiak, Alaska. The invitation to travel to Greenland grew out of that event. 

George has some great slides of his Greenland trip, including some rare color pictures of actual seal skin kayaks. He says that it was a challenge to try to find a kayak in Greenland that would fit him. Eventually he was able to squeeze into the roomiest kayak I think by rubbing himself with seal fat and having one person pull up on the coaming of the kayak and another person lift the bow, which loosens the skin on the deck. Of course then there was the question of being able to get out. 

By the way, the water they were training in was about 32 degrees and frequently littered with icebergs. 

George tells a great story about how he was designated the chef for the end−of−training-camp barbeque, since he was the only one with barbeque experience. He set up an apparatus to roast a pig on a spit, rotating it around a scrap metal pole (found in an abandoned building on the site) and rocks to reflect the heat around the fire pit. He stuffed the inside of the pig with apples, and baked potatoes in the coals. He couldn't help being a little worried about how it would turn out, but the flesh was completely cooked and tender inside and the meal was a big success.

While on the subject of meat, I found it interesting that Maligiaq says it’s a big part of his diet; seal, whale, beef, pork −− all kinds. If you are looking for the secret to his athletic prowess maybe that's it. George says that seal meat contains vitamins that are not found in beef, namely vitamin C. That’s how the Inuit have been able to survive while eating a diet consisting entirely of meat. These days fresh fruits and vegetables have to be shipped in from Denmark. Well, maybe with climate change that will all change.  So I'm guessing it's probably impossible to be a vegan in Greenland.  You have to wonder if for genetic reasons Inuits an Inuk wouldn't simply just up and die on a vegan diet.

Rolling with Maligiaq!

I've just heard that Maligiaq Padilla, National Greenland Kayaking Champion several times over, will be in the Seattle area on October 8th-13th.  He will be giving group as well as private individual instruction along with Dubside on Greenland style paddling and rolling. The classes are sponsored through George Gronseth's Kayak Academy. Information on dates and prices can be found on their website.  This is a rare opportunity to learn Greenland paddling from an actual Greenlander and meet a kayaking legend. There are also rumors of having some of the classes up in Deception Pass. Sign up now while there's still room!

Sunday Morning TV

Warren took this awesome video of himself surfing in Cattle Pass in the San Juan Islands:

"...It's a 4.8 flood with a little wind.  More wind would of made nicer waves, these waves are about 3 feet. You could get some rides at the front of where they started to stack up. I put in at Anacortes, worked out in this chop at Davis Point for over two hours and caught the ferry back."

Caught in the Act

A neighbor sent me these pictures he took of me rolling as I paddled off into sunset the other day.  Thanks, John!

Which reminds me:  Dubside mentioned that he published an article in the December 2007 issue of Sea Kayaker magazine titled, "The Continuing Evolution of Greenland Rolling".  That was news to me since I let my subscription to Sea Kayaker expire.  So I actually stood in line with all the Christmas shoppers at REI and paid the full newstand price to get my copy.  It was well worth the read.  The article demonstrated to me that "traditional" paddling in fact changes.  For one thing, they have to make up more complicated rolls for the Greenland National Kayaking Competition as the skill level rises. 

Dubside also told me an interesting story about another article he wrote for Sea Kayaker a long time ago, about Commando Kayaking.  It was rejected the first time he submitted it, on the grounds that it seemed to advocate behavors the editors thought were of questionable legality, or at best would reflect poorly on the sea kayaking community, such as camping on private lands and sneaking out before dawn, and dragging wet folding kayaks on public buses, perhaps leaving pools of salty water in the aisles.  He rewrote and resubmitted it, but it apparently was lost in the Sea Kayaker office and ultimately forgotten.

Dubside: "The Kayaker's Best Friend"

Browsing the web I found this article by Dubside, titled "The Kayaker's Best Friend", in the Spring 2007 edition of Wavelength Magazine.  Among other things, he talks about the evils of cars and lawnmowers!

Check it Out!

Warren Williamson and Dubside are featured on Justine Curgenven's Blog.  She filmed them paddling in the Deception Pass tidal race along with Tom Sharp and Matt from Body Boat Blade.   Will we see them and other Pacific Northwest paddlers featured in This is the Sea 4, along with coverage of her recent expedition in Haida Gwaii?  In my humble opinion, the recognition by sea kayaking's premier filmmaker is well deserved! 

ADDENDUM:

I've heard rumors about a picture of a black kayak making the rounds on the paddler forums -- a custom low volume Ice Kap made for Dubside by local fiberglass guru Sterling Donalson.  Has anyone seen this?  Dubside himself confirmed it for me today.  It's going to be lightweight, about thirty-something pounds (38 lbs is what Ice Kaps typically weigh) black, of course, maybe with some kind of pattern.    Hopefully, it will be finished in time for the West Coast Sea Kayak Symposium in September.

Found on YouTube: Glimpses of Greenland

I've probably skipped over this short video dozens of times while browsing on YouTube and finally today took a few minutes time to watch it.  I've recently discovered that browsing through all those junk videos trying to find the rare gems becomes much more tolerable if I turn the video sound off and play my own soundtrack on iTunes (typically my favorite internet radio station, Secret Agent on SOMA FM). 

In this video, Irish currach-builder Pádraig Ó Duinnín travels to Greenland to kayak with the Inuit.  After I got to the traditional kayaking scene I had to rewind and listen to it with the sound on. To my surprise, most of the time he wasn't even speaking English, so I really didn't miss anything the first time around.  It has some good shots of modern whale and seal hunting, a meat market in Nuuk, traditional kayaking and rolling among icebergs.  Pádraig Ó Duinnín even dons on a neoprene tuilik and tries innaqatsineq (side sculling) while his coach stands by to spot him.  Classic!

Brand New Old Kayak

I made a visit to see Ricardo's Greenland kayak in progress at the Bates Boatbuilding program.  He took the lines from one of the drawings in Harvey Golden's book, increased the beam a little and raised the masik for a comfortable fit.  He had just finished dyeing the nylon and was waiting for it to dry so he could apply the polyurethane.  When I first saw the kayak my first impression was that it already looked like a museum piece, a little rough around the edges. The rope cockpit rim really makes it look authentic, and he managed to get a deep brown color using multiple coats of dye.  I gave him a hand suspending it from the ceiling in the painting room to prepare it for spraying on the two-part polyurethane.  Isn't he lucky to have all this space and specialized equipment at his disposal?  Well he was, anyway, until the college authorities found out that he had already built several boats under the radar while being a "volunteer" and not paying any tuition!  I think that is why he's anxious to get this kayak done and out of there.  Congrats Ricardo!

The Next Step

Let’s face it:  If G-Style is going to grow it has to become more commercialized.  That means mass produced off-the-shelf standard-sized GPs and kayaks for the masses.  Forget about making things by hand!  For one thing, it takes too much time to make things to order and to get the fit of a kayak or paddle just right.  For another, there are too few commercial builders out there for them to develop a meaningful relationship with every person who wants a Greenland style kayak.

I'm sure most of us first started Greenland style by purchasing or carving a simple wooden GP.  Yet you can't just go to your local kayak shop and pick one up.  The last kayak shop I stepped into, located in the heart of Seattle, had dozens of carbon crankshaft Werner paddles but only one GP, a clunky laminated wooden Mitchell.  How hard it is to stock a few standard-sized cedar GPs?  They didn’t even have a copy of Dubside’s video for sale.  By the way, if you haven’t noticed already, the video doesn’t have an ISBN or UPC code --  which makes it impossible to sell in bookstores. 

It seems that the spread of G-style is inhibited by the resistance of its own members to growth and commercialization.  For example, a lot of G-Style instructors do not charge, or feel that it is not appropriate to charge, for paddling and rolling instruction.  The unfortunate result is a scarcity of G-Style instruction outside of the symposium setting.  Another example: attendance at the  South South Traditional Inuit Kayak Symposium reached a little over 100 in 2006. The Qajaq USA regional advisor told me that 100 people is about as many people as the symposium can really handle, given the venue.  In other words, they would like to keep it small and really don’t want a lot more people attending.  Then there was the interesting suggestion to adjust the registration fee according to income and ability to pay.  Am I wrong in sensing some anti-capitalist tendencies here?

In any case, interest in G-Style continues to grow, maybe despite the nonefforts of it's hard core participants.  So there's lots of untapped commercial potential here!  The next logical step following the commodification of traditional kayaking of course is the sexualization of G-Style.  That's right.  In fact it's already started.  A recommendation for Dubside: follow the lead of the black rubber-clad Goddess of G-Style and get some corporate endorsements.  Contact Feathercraft or another manufacturer who is willing to build you a low-volume roller.  Then sell it in ads that feature you half-clothed and surrounded by girls in bikinis like an Abercrombie and Fitch commercial (G-Style desperately needs more girls in bikinis, like they have in the hot rod and power yacht magazines).  Then again, the sex appeal of Dubside to all the old guys that make up the vast majority of the G-Style crowd is probably pretty limited...

I also have a recommendation for the rest of us: whenever you post pictures of your new skin-on-frame kayak, display it with a girl in a bikini in the picture.  Never mind that the water is cold and they risk hypothermia.  Nearly naked girls really set off the rugged masculinity of these hunting craft.  It will show G-Style as the cool, fun, sexy, youth-oriented sport it aspires to be!