Kayak 3.2, Contemporary Builders: John Petersen and Shaman Kayaks

Heading into surf in a baidarka

One of John's Greenland style Qajaq.

Here's John Petersen using a time honored arctic tool!

Toggles and paddles.

Effigy toggles, paddles and one of John's leather backrests.

Here's a group of paddlers at one of the T.A.K.S. events, a kayak rolling workshop.

A lineup of participants for the first T.A.K.S.


all photos courtesy John Petersen

I have to say right up front that I find the use of the term Shaman, for a commercial enterprise, especially by someone who isn't a shaman, a bit objectionable. I have studied shamanism for most of my adult life and have the highest respect for this form of spiritual endeavor and healing methodology. Marija Gimbutas, among others, has named shamanism as the first religion, and common to all early emerging cultures. That said, it is obvious that John Petersen has a very high regard for the cultures he is drawing from and his skin on frame kayaks and especially his kayak accoutremont are beautifully wrought and approached as an art form. His toggles are particularly compelling. Following he lead of his traditional exemplars, John crafts finely carved effigies which are put to practical use. John's work is highly regarded by the traditional kayak community. He has also been successful in originating and organizing a gathering of like minded traditional kayak enthusiasts for an annual event in California dubbed the Traditional Arctic Kayak Symposium or T.A.K.S. In it's fourth year, the symposium has proven to be an important and exuberant expression of the growing interest in and celebration of traditional kayak research, building, skills preservation and acquisition, and appreciation. Not to mention just good plain fun.
John Petersen seems to be attuned to the reality expressed by both traditional and contemporary builders of these craft- that they take on a life of their own, they become living beings. Visit his website.

Kayak 3.1 Contemporary Builders: Sean Gallagher and Anayak Kayaks

Sean's apartment in Seattle

Sean's old workshop

Cruising

Sewing

Harvey Golden in his living room with Sean and a King Island Kayak

A King Island replica underway

Drumming circle

Sean and his father enjoying whale meat at a gathering of King Island dancers.


all photos courtesy Sean Gallagher

Sean Gallagher builds kayaks. Especially King Island kayaks, and shares his knowledge with others through workshops. Sean says that he is the sole remaining member of the King Island Tribe. He believes he is the only Native American builder of kayaks who is at least partially making his living doing it. His website is a thing of beauty, as are his boats. Sean shared some photos with me, both of a professional nature and some more personal images. If you live in the northwest or would like to travel there for a workshop, chances are Sean can accommodate you. Or, if you'd rather forgo the travel, Sean will personally consult with you and craft the traditional kayak you've been dreaming about. There's much to be said for working in a tradition to which you are a rightful heir. Sean learned kayak building from his uncle and is keeping his tradition alive. Engage with him.

Kayak 3.0, Contemporary Builders; Brian Schulz, Cape Falcon Kayak

East Greenland Replica fron Nuuk, ca. Mid 20th C. Greenland National Museum

Deck fittings. Brian had this to say about this Qajaq:

"The mysterious East Greenland kayak, ultra low volume, fast, manuverable. Let's be clear, there is not a lot of stability in a boat of this type. The kayak will spear through all but the smallest waves. It will not roll as well as a West Greenland boat with a more bouyant cross section. Yet, despite all this, it remains one of my favorite kayaks. There is something so sweet about slicing it across flat water, silent, easy and intimate. The East Greenland kayaks are just something you see and fall in love with, and that's a good enough reason as any to build one. "

Brian Schulz' latest experiment, the Rhino

Rhino in the surf

My favorite, the F1

1935 Sisimuit Replica, which Brian considers his favorite Greenland Qajaq.

Brian built a skin on frame version of Joel White's Shearwater and cruised it inthe Sea of Cortez, Mexico.

camp

all photos courtesy Brian Shulz, Cape Falcon Kayaks

Brian Schulz is obsessed with kayaks, their design, their construction, their performance. Although he occasionally builds another kind of boat, his production and interest and experimentation is almost exclusively with skin of frame kayaks. Well versed in traditional kayak design and construction, Brian doesn't shy away from working with newer designs and concepts to achieve a desired result. What we find here is exuberant, robust and intriguing. His website is a must, and Harvey Golden assures me that Brian's building classes are a great introduction into the world of traditional kayak building, whether one is looking to build a traditional Greenland style, a Baidarka or one of Brian's more contemporary designs. You can also commission Brian to build you one of many designs. The Cape Falcon website includes a wealth of information, and is frequently updated with Brian's latest research project. Before you plunk down 4k on that latest kevlar boat, glimpse where it all came from and why a skin on frame might serve your purposes better. I think Brian makes a good case. Brian Schulz is also a very active participant in the Qajaq USA Greenland forum and you can learn tons about these type boats there.

Kayak 2.4, Historian/Builders: Wolfgang Brinck

Wolfgang Brinck's treatise on constructing an Aluet Baidarka

Wolfgang in his famous cedar Aluet paddling hat

First boat, to a plan by H. C. Petersen

Inspecting a frame at the Phoebe Hearst Museum

Wolfgang's second build was this Atka from the Phoebe Hearst Museum in Berkeley

Here receiving an overhaul after 17 years of service.

King Island replica,

showing it's potential for a sleep aboard

The king island's frame

The Aluktan gym with frames building

Don Jon Tcheripanoff, one of the students, inspecting his frame

Karen Vincler lashing frames to ribs

Karen with her finished frame

all photos courtesy Wolfgang Brinck

Wolfgang Brinck has been building traditional skin on frame kayaks since 1987. His first one was a Greenland Qajaq from a design found in HC Peterson's book. He soon turned his attention to aluetian baidarka, building replicas, doing research, and finding plans but scant information on construction . He decided to write a book on the boats and how to make them, and it was published in 1993. He also began testing his builds, paddling boats year round on Lake Michigan. He along with Martin Honel and Dan Joyce co-founded the NativeWatercraft Society, in 1991, which sadly is no longer with us. As his reputation grew, Wolfgang gradually moved into a didactic role and began teaching others to build the boats he was so enamoured with, in addition to building them himself, sharing his knowledge and enthusiasm. Teaching gradually became a major focus, and after a decade of helping others build boats he was invited to the Aluetians in 2004, specifically by Akutan high school, to help lead a group of high school students in building several replica Baidarka. By the time Wolfgang left, the first Baidarka launched in the area since 1930 was on the water!

Wolfgang maintains both a website and a weblog dedicated to skin boats and his activities, and they are both very worth your time and full on information on building and paddling traditional skin boats. Please visit.

Kayak 2.2, the Historian Builders:Harvey Golden

Harvey's Book, Kayaks of Greenland

Detailed drawings from KoG

Harvey's "living room" showing where he stores all these replicas

My favorite, the Netsilik

Saint Davids Straits kayak frame, Nunavaat, and the hut Harvey lived in while making it.

The finished kayak

Two hole Badairka frame

1819 Aleut replica

Harvey in an East Greenland replica

The deck accoutrement of East Greenland kayak

Thamaku, a proa replica

All photos courtesy Harvey Golden

Harvey Golden is the guru of kayak replica making. He's as much historian as builder, and all of this is avocation. He has built well over 60 replicas since the first in 1994 and has documented  and surveyed innumerable museum boats,  over 200. His travels in search of source material have taken him to the arctic, Greenland and Europe.This  is  truly a beautiful obsession. His book , an eight year research project, Kayaks of Greenland, is over 580 pages and contains more than 400 figures, photos and drawings of kayaks and paddles. It is an inestimable resource. He does all this while working and raising a family. Harvey is very generous, answering my numerous email queries, and also responding to questions posted on the Qajaq USA Greenland forum with enthusiasm and insight. He's also posting photos and commentary on his latest builds on the same site. Harvey has not limited himself to the Greenland kayak. The one I want to copy is a Central Canadian kayak, the Netsilik above, and he's replicated kayaks from all the Arctic regions producing kayak, including Siberia. Harvey has ventured further abroad, replicating Thamaku proa, and a canoe yawl among others. You can find his latest Greenland build here and his most recent Aluet here. Anyone with the slightest interest in traditional kayaks MUST visit his website. It's a treasure chest of information, skill and guidance and contains information, especially on the lifting of offsets from scale drawings, applicable to any kind of boat drawings, which I challenge you to find elsewhere.

I'll leave you with these words from Harvey on building kayak replicas:

"Other very helpful things to have on hand when building and using a kayak replica are trust, patience, and an open mind.   I've built kayaks I couldn't keep upright and kayaks I couldn't steer.  Are they bad kayaks?  I could've easily thought so and chopped 'em up for firewood, but I knew that someone had once used the same design, for hunting no less-- and in the Arctic.   I trusted their sensibilities as designer, builder, and paddler-hunter, and I ought to at least stick with it long enough to master its nuances-- to gain comfort and capability in the same design.   (Sure as I didn't throw my first bicycle out after the first try!)    Familiarity with the original kayak's context is also key. . . . as in don't take a lake hunting kayak out in the surf and expect to enjoy it. "

Other very helpful things to have on hand when building and using a kayak replica are trust, patience, and an open mind.   I've built kayaks I couldn't keep upright and kayaks I couldn't steer.  Are they bad kayaks?  I could've easily thought so and chopped 'em up for firewood, but I knew that someone had oncee as I didn't throw my first bic