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Kayak and Canoe Design Bulletin Board
Re: Baidarka thingamajig n stuff
Posted By: Paul Lund In Response To: Baidarka thingamajig n stuff (Pete W P)
Date: Wednesday, 9 February 2000, at 8:44 a.m.
> I've read more than once about people wondering what the purpose of that
> double pronged whale bone thingamajig on the bow of a baidarka . I have a
> couple of ideas on that....> First off , Im guessing that thingamajig at the bow is whale bone to
> protect the more vulnerable "fabric" of sealskin from abrasive
> encounters with ice flows. Streching the sealskin over anykind of bow
> structure wouldnt last too long in an ice flow environment.> Next is that double pronged thingamajig. My guess here is that the
> designers in their crudeness had no concept of a "bowbulb"
> reducing drag and so on. My guess is that it is supposed to resemble a
> mouth of some sort. Be it salmon or otherwise. Perhaps to a superstitious
> people this aggressive looking mouth on the front of their kayak was
> believed to intimidate other predators like polarbear and certain seals.
> Or, perhaps, being that THEY were infact predators themselves in search of
> seals, whales or whatever, adorning their bow with a mouth like design was
> akin to the same spirit the pilots of WWII who adorned the cowling of the
> their fighter plain with a red mouthed, white toothy grin - hence the
> flying tigers.> At the very least, I'm assuming this whale bone thing helped spare the
> more vulnerable sealskin from cutting ice flow abrasions.> Pete [No I still dont have my &$^#@^ kayak kit yet]
Damn, havn't visited this bbs for a while and seem to have missed a good discussion. Well I've read all the posts and I just gotta add my $0.02.
Everybody seems to attribute the reason for this thingamajig solely to paddling performance, when this was just one aspect of traditional kayaking, the main and I guess the only real reason these guys risked life and limb paddling in freezing waters, was hunting, this was an absolutly results driven endevour in an extremly hostile envronment. It's very difficult to attribute reasons for gear variations when you are looking from the perspective of a recreational paddler in a much less dangerous (mostly) environment.
Could this thingamajig have been useful some way in the hunt? If you just harpooned a narwal and it's dragging you across the ocean side-ways, could the thingamajig be helpful then? Perhaps looping your harpoon line through the thingamajig would keep your prey infront of you? Unless this would result in a broken bow. Without seeing these guys in action, or talking to them it is imposible to say. What are the differences in animals hunted by Aluets compared with inuits?
Modern culture in it's dealings with "Primitive" cultures has allways had a way of deciding that primitive traditions are grounded in the mystical, when often these traditions are firmly rooted in the practical, though even their exponents have forgoten the real reasons behind the "tradition". For example the newly arrived missionary who ascribes the reason the local tribe bury their dead on high ground; as the high ground having some mystical significance. With the practical reason being that if you bury a body on low ground in a place thats subject to flooding, the body, if it's not buried deep enough will probably float to the surface next time it floods. No mysticism, they just want uncle joe to stay buried, after 20 generations of high ground funerals the tribe forgets the practical reasons.
Well, I guess that finishes this rant, I don't know if I'd "put my money where my mouth is" as far as my comments are concerned. But I can't help thinking that if this thingamajig didn't result in an improved hunt, or an increased ability to hunt, then it wouldn't have been evolved.
Paul.
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