Moses Dirks Reads out Aleut Kayak Parts in Unangam Tunuu

Here's a video of Moses Dirks reading out the names of Aleutian Kayak parts in Unangam Tunuu, the Aleut language.  The names and the kayak parts are linked in the picture below for reference. The video was made at the Aleutian Pribiloff Islands Association Urban Culture Camp in Anchorage in 2010.

Click on the image to get a large enough picture to read the text.

Danes Build Baidarkas

Danish kayak builder and teacher Svend Ulstrup,  sent me some photos of the work he is doing in Denmark. Apparently, his students just finished building 48 baidarkas or iqyan.

One of Svend's innovations is to put hatches like miniature cockpit coamings on his boats.  He also has his students add sea socks which keep sand out of the boats and can double as backpacks.
Unlike most builders in the US, Svend uses all plant derived products products for building his kayaks, lashings are hemp or jute, sewing twine is cotton, boat skins are linen and sealant is linseed oil.  Although he seems to be adding some synthetic colorings these days.
For more info on Svend, see his website

Iqyax^ (Baidarka) Research

I am currently working on the improved Bay Boat, that is, San Francisco Bay Boat.  The baidarka I had been paddling most frequently is about 20 years old, re-ribbed once and reskinned a number of times and a fairly close replica of an Atka baidarka.  This particular boat just got a paint job.  The old paint job consisted of a varnish base covered some time later by a color coat.  The color coat was peeling badly, probably because I never sanded the base coat before putting on the color coat.  The re-paint is done now.

 

The baidarka is on the left with its new coat of gray latex house paint.  I store my boats outside so the most critical job of the paint is to keep the UV rays from degrading the nylon skin.  Opaque paint does a good job of that and more cheaply than exterior varnish.  That's my King Islander to the right of the baidarka.

The only drawback of the old baidarka is its narrow width and fairly deep hull which makes it a challenge to keep upright.  It's actually not that bad once you get used to it, but it's not a boat that you can just sit in and relax.  When you're not moving, you need to brace or have the paddle out as an outrigger.  

So, enter a wider version of the Atka iqyax^.  The idea behind this boat is sufficient width to allow lounging without constant bracing but not enough width to make it slow, a boat suited for longer stays on the water, like a bay crossing, about a one hour affair.

Inside view of the hull.  Good width and flat rib profile to make the boat stable. 

And an outside view of the hull with the stringers temporarily taped and lashed in place.  Also note the open jawed bow, a configuration I have been playing with, mostly because this configuration makes it easier to align the keelson with the bow assembly.

Also the upturned nose of the other bow configuration is more prone to breaking because the grain runs across the upturned part instead of in line with it. 

The iqyax^ and the Sea Otter

A few years ago, a friend of mine gave me a bronze model of an Unangan kayak.  This year, my wife gave me a bronze sea otter. Coincidentally, or perhaps not, the sea otter was made to roughly the same scale as the kayak and so I put the sea otter on the deck of the kayak where it looks nice and appropriate and also cute.

The notion of a sea otter on the deck of an Unangan kayak is mostly a fantasy.  Sea otters were hunted by Unangan men in the service of the Russian fur traders aka promyshlenniki and later under American rule until the hunt was outlawed in 1911. Apparently, it dawned on somebody in the government that sea otters were near extinction.
So, perhaps coincidentally, the sculptural assemblage of kayak and sea otter is a  belated celebration of the one hundred year anniversary of the cessation of the sea otter hunt.

To modern urban sensibilities, the notion of hunting sea otters is abhorrent since they are so indisputably cute even as full grown adults.
But sea otters were hunted for practical reasons, that is, for money that the Chinese were willing to pay for their fur.

The Chinese needed the fur for their aristocracy which needed the luxuriant fur to trim their aristocratic robes as shown above.

The fur, when not attached to an imperial Chinese robe looks like the above. Legal note:  Only Alaskan Natives may possess sea mammal furs in the raw.  Non-natives may possess art or crafts objects that incorporate sea mammal parts if created by natives.
The Spanish in America, specifically in Baja and Alta California, received mercury in payment from the Chinese for sea otter furs.  The mercury was then used to extract gold from ore and the gold was shipped back to Spain to finance wars against other European nations.  And so it goes.
Sea otters are safe for the time being.  Oil has been found to be much more vital to economic well-being than mercury or gold.

Baidarka-Iqyax^ Interior

Inside of the baidarka, newly built with the sun coming through the skin.  Sure is pretty.

Another Iqyax^

My friend Patty, Unangan bent-wood hat maker sent me this photo.  Sharon, the young woman in the picture made a scale model iqyax^ by following the instructions in my book.  The iqyax^ was in the UA Fairbanks Native Arts Exhibit.