Connecticut Water Trails Association
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Connecticut Water Trails Association |
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Connecticut Water Trails Program Kayaking Basics Different Styles Of Kayaks - Arctic Kayaks
Arctic kayaks are the boats that all kayaks today are based on. They
were the original kayaks. These are the basic boats that all the kayaks
which people use now were based on.
Kayaks were originally made by the Inuits who lived in northern North
America or by people in Siberia. These boats were generally made with a
wooden frame. This wooden frame was then covered by a seal skin which
made a watertight barrier against the sea water.
While these arctic kayaks were not nearly as strong as the kayaks we use
today, they were still fairly strong and easy to build boats for their
time. More importantly, they were also very light, which made them much
easier to carry and store than some of the other hand-made boats of the
day. For instance, consider how heavy it probably was to carry arctic
kayaks compared to the larger dug out canoes which were also used in
North America.
Arctic kayaks have directly inspired so many different kayak designs now
that it's hard to believe that all of these different types of boats
were based off of the same original design. While most of the kayaks
that are built today look nothing like the arctic kayaks of the past,
some of the designs are fairly similar. For instance, folding kayaks are
built in the same way, and use the advantages of a lightweight frame to
be easier to carry and store.
Since the original Arctic kayaks were generally made by the person who
was going to use them, no kayak from those times was exactly the same.
For that reason, it took a long time for Europeans to learn how to
replicate Arctic kayaks - at first. If you're looking for a kayak that is similar to the original Arctic kayaks, then you should look into getting a folding kayak or some other type of kayak that has a stretched skin of some sort over a wooden or metal frame. One of the things you should consider, however, is that one of these kayaks may not be as sturdy as some of the more modern boats.
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