Kayaking for sport developed in southern Germany around the turn of the century. Lured by the whitewater rivers rising high in the nearby Alps, people began to experiment with wood-framed, fabric-covered boats based on the Eskimo kayak. Out of the experimentation came the collapsible kayak-das Faltboot. The frame was assembled on the riverbank and inserted into a fabric outer skin. When the day’s boating was over, the Faltboot could be quickly disassembled.
By the time World War II broke out, whitewater competition, the distant cousin of flatwater racing, was well developed. Flatwater kayak racing won a place in the 1936 Olympic Games. The first world championship whitewater slalom race was held in 1949 in Switzerland, and in 1955 the first wild water (downriver) world championship (time trials through rapids) was held in conjunction with the slalom competition.
Whitewater slalom racing began officially in the United States in 1952 on the Brandywine River in Delaware. Early slalom races were typically run in open canoes with a smattering of Faltboots in attendance. In 1958, the first national championship slalom trials were held on Vermont’s West River.
Let’s look at the evolution of the kayak and its cousin, the closed-deck canoe, describe the modern kayaks, and offer pointers on how to choose the right boat for you.
From Nanook to the Olympics
The native North Americans developed three unique species of boat: the dugout canoe used in the warmer climates; the birchbark canoe used in the great northern forest region; and the skin boat used in the barren Arctic. The arctic boats were fundamental to life in the harsh world from the Bering Sea to the east coast of Greenland.
Easily the best known of the arctic skin boats is the kayak.
Originally a hunting boat, its closed deck and sealed cockpit kept the hunter warm, and made the kayak seaworthy in rough water. Its streamlined shape made it fast through the sea and easy to paddle. Typical dimensions-about 18 feet in length and B~ feet across the beam-made it even longer and narrower than today’s recreational kayaks. Double-bladed paddles were common, although some single-bladed paddles were used.
The unique construction of the kayak made it resilient and durable in wild, ice-filled seas. The kayak frame was a masterpiece of primitive engineering. The supporting member was not the keel, as it is in most wood-boat construction, but the gunwale. A framework of bent staves was hung from the gunwale and lashed to battens running fore and aft. The bow end, and sometimes the stern as well, was extended to provide a hand grip for lifting the kayak from the sea. The deck was built like the hull, but could be structurally less robust since the deck did not get the same kind of abuse as the hull. Sealskin was used to cover the kayak frame, and seal sinews lashed the frame together. The skin was stretched taut, but because it was not sewn to the frame, collision with a chunk of ice was less likely to cause a tear.
The hunter drew the bottom of his parka over the cockpit rim, fastening it with a drawstring. Thus buttoned in, if he capsized he could roll up without shipping water.
