Editing Kayak (section)

== History ==

[[File:Edward S. Curtis Collection People 035.jpg|thumb|right|Two people in a kayak, [[Nunivak]], [[Alaska]], photographed by [[Edward S. Curtis]], 1930|alt=Photo of two males wearing fur sitting in well of large kayak]]
[[File:Sweden Vaxholm sport 1938.jpg|thumb|right|The first [[canoe sprint]] World Championships in Vaxholm, [[Sweden]], photographed by Gunnar Lundh in 1938]]

Kayaks ([[Inuktitut]]: ''qajaq'' ([[Inuktitut syllabics|ᖃᔭᖅ]] {{IPA|iu|qaˈjaq}}), [[Central Alaskan Yup'ik language|Yup'ik]]: ''qayaq'' (from ''qai-'' "surface; top"),<ref name="yupeskdict">Jacobson, Steven A. (2012). [http://www.uaf.edu/anla/collections/search/resultDetail.xml?id=CY972J2012 Yup'ik Eskimo Dictionary, 2nd edition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170803101952/http://www.uaf.edu/anla/collections/search/resultDetail.xml?id=CY972J2012 |date=August 3, 2017 }}. Alaska Native Language Center.</ref> [[Aleut]]: ''Iqyax'') were originally developed by the [[Inuit]], [[Yupik peoples|Yup'ik]], and [[Aleut]].<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Brydon, S | title = ARCTIC HUNTERS, AMERICAN EXPLORERS, ADVENTURERS, AND ANTHROPOLOGISTS: The ex-Museum of the American Indian Collection of Kayaks at the Canadian Canoe Museum|journal = Museum Anthropology| volume = 42 | issue = 2 | pages = 71–88 | date = September 10, 2019| doi =10.1111/muan.12208 | s2cid = 203460793}}</ref> They used the boats to hunt on inland lakes, rivers and coastal waters of the [[Arctic Ocean]], [[Atlantic Ocean|North Atlantic]], [[Bering Sea]] and [[Pacific Ocean|North Pacific]] oceans.{{citation needed|date=July 2019}} These first kayaks were constructed from stitched [[pinniped|seal]] or other animal skins stretched over a wood or whalebone-skeleton frame. (Western [[Alaskan Natives]] used wood whereas the eastern Inuit used whalebone due to the treeless landscape){{citation needed|date=July 2019}}. Kayaks are believed to be at least 4,000 years old.<ref>{{Cite web|title=History of Kayak: Eskimos 4000 Years Vision Realized – Kayak Information and Reviews|url=https://www.waterkayaking.com/history-of-kayak-eskimos-4000-years-vision-realized/|access-date=March 5, 2021|website=Waterkayaking.com|language=en-GB|archive-date=June 3, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210603012519/https://www.waterkayaking.com/history-of-kayak-eskimos-4000-years-vision-realized/|url-status=usurped}}</ref> The oldest kayaks remaining are exhibited in the [[North America]] department of the [[State Museum of Ethnology]] in [[Munich]], with the oldest dating from 1577.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.voelkerkundemuseum-muenchen.de/inhalt/html/e-home.html |title=SMV München/ English Summary |date=March 12, 2008 |website= |access-date=February 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080312121808/http://www.voelkerkundemuseum-muenchen.de/inhalt/html/e-home.html |archive-date=March 12, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Subarctic people made many types of boats for different purposes. The Aleut [[baidarka]] was made in double or triple cockpit designs, for hunting and transporting passengers or goods. An [[umiak]] is a large open-sea canoe, ranging from {{cvt|17|to|30|ft|m|order=flip}}, made with seal skins and wood, originally paddled with single-bladed paddles and typically had more than one paddler.

Subarctic builders designed and built their boats based on their own experience and that of the generations before them passed on through oral tradition. The word "kayak" means "man's boat" or "hunter's boat", and subarctic kayaks were a personal craft, each built by the man who used it and closely fitting his size for maximum [[maneuverability]]. For this reason, kayaks were often designed [[ergonomics|ergonomically]] using one's [[List of human-based units of measurement|own body proportions as units of measure]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fienup-Riordan |first1=Ann |title=Yuungnaqpiallerput/The Way We Genuinely Live: Masterworks of Yup'ik Science and Survival |date=2007 |publisher=University of Washington Press |isbn=978-0-295-98669-2}}</ref> The paddler wore a [[tuilik]], a garment that was stretched over the rim of the kayak coaming and sealed with drawstrings at the coaming, wrists, and hood edges. This enabled the "[[eskimo roll]]" and [[kayak rescue|rescue]] to become the preferred methods of recovery after capsizing, especially as few Inuit could swim; their waters are too cold for a swimmer to survive for long.<ref>D. C. Hutchinson, ''The Complete Book of Sea Kayaking'', 5th ed., Falcon Guides, Connecticut.</ref>

Instead of a ''tuilik'', most traditional kayakers today use a [[spray deck]] made of [[waterproof]] synthetic material stretchy enough to fit tightly around the [[cockpit]] rim and body of the kayaker, and which can be released rapidly from the cockpit to permit easy exit (in particular in a [[wet exit]] after a [[capsizing]]).

Inuit kayak builders had specific measurements for their boats. The length was typically three times the span of his outstretched arms. The width at the cockpit was the width of the builder's hips plus two fists (sometimes less). The typical depth was his fist plus the outstretched thumb (hitch hiker). Thus typical dimensions were about {{cvt|17|ft|m|order=flip}} long by {{cvt|20|-|22|in|cm|order=flip}} wide by {{cvt|7|in|cm|order=flip}} deep.

Traditional kayaks encompass three types: ''Baidarkas'', from the [[Bering Sea]] & [[Aleutian Islands]], the oldest design, whose rounded shape and numerous [[Chine (boating)|chines]] give them an almost [[blimp]]-like appearance; ''West Greenland'' kayaks, with fewer chines and a more angular shape, with gunwales rising to a point at the [[bow (ship)|bow]] and [[stern]]; and ''East Greenland'' kayaks that appear similar to the West Greenland style, but often fit more snugly to the paddler and possess a steeper angle between gunwale and [[wikt:stem|stem]], which lends maneuverability.

Most of the [[Aleut people]] in the [[Aleutian Islands]] eastward to [[Greenland Inuit]] relied on the kayak for hunting a variety of prey—primarily seals, though [[whale]]s and [[caribou]] were important in some areas. Skin-on-frame kayaks are still being used for hunting by Inuit in Greenland, because the smooth and flexible skin glides silently through the waves.

[[File:Greenland Paddle 2.JPG|thumb|right|This Greenland paddle is {{cvt|7|ft|cm|order=flip}} in length, and much narrower than European paddles. A storm paddle would be shorter.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.qajaqusa.org/QK/makegreen2.pdf|title = Home |website=Qajaqusa.org}}</ref>|alt=Photo of long wooden pole with larger, rectangular flattened sections at either end]]