Kodiak Alaska to Paddle, Study the Aleut Baidarka and Adventures in Fine Driving: the Time I rented a Ford Fiesta – Gail Ferris

Gail E. Ferris gaileferris@hotmail.com

http://www.nkhorizons.com/index.html

I decided that I would like to visit Kodiak Alaska because this island offers an opportunity to study the Aleut baidarka and to see an area where boreal and arctic plants are living side by side. This island is noted for its fine salmon fishing and the Kodak brown bear. I wanted to compare Kodiak to a similar area, the Yama River in Siberia that I had visited in 1991.

http://www.guillemot-kayaks.com/Trips/Gail/GailFerris.htm

I made my plans by reading the Lonely Planet Guide about this area. This guide has excellent information about how to get there, camping, car rental with prices included and all sorts of handy information including simple easy to read maps. To save space and weight I photocopy the information and carry that with me instead of the book itself.

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/

I booked my reservation for June 18, 1996.

I had been to Alaska before and was very glad to know that I could make reservations by phone to stay at the Anchorage Youth Hostel on 700 H St. in downtown Anchorage. This is the best place for those of us who love adventure to stay when we have to just stay between flights overnight and for we who like to rub elbows with other adventurers so that we can exchange impressions.

www.hostelsweb.com/cities/anchorageak.html

June 18^th, 1996 I flew on Continental Airlines from New Haven to Newark and from Newark I flew 5 ½ hours to Seattle. The last leg to Alaska was Seattle to Anchorage.

Unfortunately we do not have this air service from New Haven any longer.

The flight Seattle to Anchorage started at 9:30 sundown in Seattle.

As we flew north we caught up with the sun and in the last 300 miles the sun was visible. What an experience to take off in darkness and to gain enough altitude to see the sun.

The way the sun appeared to me seemed much different than when I have flown over the Atlantic to Europe. The vision of the sun over this polar horizon seemed to be much more dramatic.

I think that I may have been remembering the arrival of the sun during January February in Kullorsuaq Greenland. I recalled sun rising over the Greenland land icecap how different the light from the sun is, once the sun breaches the horizon. After sun set four months earlier seeing that intense spectrum of red light that is only available from direct sun is a memorable moment to me.

http://www.nkhorizons.com/Kullorsuaq.html

I had not thought of experiencing a north south sun rise during my flight northward that when I booked this flight.

I was especially amused to be flying north so near to the summer solstice.

Even though during our decent from the air it looked as though it was dark in Anchorage when we landed it was actually twilight rather than pitch dark at 12:30am.

On this trip I took a kayak and camping gear. My baggage consisted of three large bags and one carry-on bag. Among my baggage was a Vit Peshikov light weight aluminum frame combination single and double folding kayak with Hypalon hull nylon red deck.

For baggage I had a carry on bag with my survival essentials and three check on bags. For the kayak I carry the four-foot long frame in a bag over my shoulder like a golf bag and a backpack or Duluth type of bag I carry the hull bag. In a backpack bag I carry my camping gear.

www.duluthpack.com/

The next morning in Anchorage with my carry on bag on my back I walked a few blocks from the Hostel to McDonalds where I had a reasonably priced breakfast at McDonalds. I went to the Information booth on Boreal Street where I caught a less expensive ride to the Airport via the Dynair shuttle.

I talked with a photographer about life in the small northern settlements about the effect the Native Land Act is having on everyday life here in Alaska. He suggested Native American Corp. as a source of information on how people can organize and run business enterprises. I have spent time in Greenland, Pond Inlet and Arctic Bay Canada and Barrow Alaska. We compared our mutual Arctic perspectives agreeing that the NLA in Alaska had begun a change for all native people in Canada and Greenland to follow. In the future when I visit Greenland again would like to discuss the appointment of leadership and similar questions to get Greenland going. Life in Greenland as far as business adventures goes is much different because of the inherent difference between the Danish and American cultures. People of Denmark and Greenland do not have the sense of business adventure we have in America.

My flight Anchorage to Kodiak was another one of those wonderful opportunities to see what Kodiak looks like from the air. As I always do, I took some still pictures and video footage from the airplane window.

view before landing at Kodiak

I was glad that I had solid advice from my Lonely Planet Guide. I strategize my camping location choosing the Buskin River camp area because it was nearest the airport and was between the airport and the town, Kodiak. The camp area had just opened for the season and I was pleased to be able to get a campsite setup for just $10.00. If I had come later in the season I would have been much more challenged in getting a campsite, because this is a very popular camping and fishing area.

www.dnr.state.ak.us/parks/units/kodiak/buskin.htm

What more could I want the Buskin River camp area could have not been more ideal, because it offers access to the open water just down the road and access to fishing in the river just a few yards from my campsite.

The campsite has a wonderful information resource and bookstore hosted by the Alaska State Parks service where I was able to buy books and pamphlets about plants in this area.

The bookstore offered important pamphlets about the area in general and most important about the bears explaining how Kodiak Brown Bears behave especially regarding food.

I realized that I was not capable of coping with engaging in solitary overnight travel in my kayak because of the likelihood of a bear encounter. I was not prepared to deal with this type of bear.

I heard a story about some kayak paddlers who left their food inside their kayak and moored it out in the bay over night. A bear smelling the food just simply swam out to the kayk and proceeded to rip open the kayak and eat the food.

Specialized hermetically sealing food containers are sold in town for travelers however I thought that a bear can just as easily detect some residue of food on camping equipment and you can imagine the rest of the story. I was too chicken to want to find out. I had used my tent for several trips and always cooked inside it so I figure that I was most likely to be a sitting duck.

When I was in Arctic Bay Canada I was in the same situation regarding polar bears, which had adapted to the presence of hunters. However in western Greenland polar bears are heavily hunted and infrequent visitors when the water is open. I have never seen a polar bear during the summer in western Greenland where I have done solo expedition paddling for days at a time.

To learn about animals and plants in Kodiak I bought a pamphlet Wild Edible and Poisonous Plants of Alaska University of Alaska Fairbanks, which has black and white line drawings as well as photos with clear descriptions of each plant. I was particularly interested in differentiating Poison Water Hemlock from Wild Celery. I am always interested ethnobotany. I like to compare edible plants on Kodiak that I have also seen in other areas. There is a profusion of edible plants on Kodiak.

I bought Alaska & Yukon Wild Flowers Guide edited by Helen A. White another excellent guide with color photos and black and white drawings. For a general guide I bought Nature an Illustrated Guide to Common Plants and Animals by James Kavanagh, which I used for identifying birds and other animals.

These books were very helpful because the information in them made it possible for me to understand what I was seeing. An important part of travel for myself is having an idea of what I am looking at and what its role is in the ecosystem.

Watching the antics of magpies I could guess that they are either in the crow or blue jay family because their behavior is typically gregarious. I was glad to find out that Magpies are all in the same family – just a bunch of wise guys.

I was very pleased because I always to have conveniently sized plant guides and information about any area I visit. After I read them I had a much clearer idea of what I might find on my explorations particularly the small bog plants such as

The Buskin River campsite ranger, Dick and Yvonne Perkins from Washington arrived later that afternoon via car ferry from Homer. We talked about the adventure of their ferry ride.

I had not thought about taking the ferry what a wonderful experience that might have been to experience Alaskan waters. There is ferry service and mail boat service to the Alaskan islands in this region.

www.akmhs.com/

I prefer to fly because I am more interested in experiencing my destination rather than getting to it.

One of the delights in this area I was able to watch some kids playing hackysak with amazing skill. This is a very practical game similar to soccer in the sense that feet and heels propel the ball but the difference is that the game takes place within a defined square on the sidewalk. This is a good game in shopping mall areas.

The physical dexterity required to keep the ball in the air at all times and to pass the ball to the other players is in a sense like a from of stationary ballet.

I rented a car at the airport because of the distances involved getting from place to place, the weight of my gear. I wanted to transport my kayak assembled from place to place.

I rented from Rent-a-Heap a Ford Fiesta, their cheapest car at $29.00 a day. The other car rentals were charging nearly double. I was glad that I did not have to rent from them.

I never divulged to the renters that one of my purposes for renting this car was to transport my kayak on it.

Now just think about it. I had this tiny car a ford Fiesta and an 18-foot kayak. Talk about a little over hang bow to stern. My car looked outlandish with this red and black kayak on its roof.

I thought I could pretend that I was among the invisible as I drove about with this kayak atop the car. From a distance coming down the road my car kayak sandwich appeared as an apparition then became a spectacle rather hard to believe.

Sure enough I arrived in town and there was a convenient parking place exactly in front of the Rent A Heap office in town. I fantasized that maybe the people at the airport car rental office would not be in this office. Then I thought maybe they would not happen to look out of their floor to ceiling windows at me in their car just while I am parked there with the kayak looming ominously over the car bumpers. I thought maybe I, the kayak and the car are invisible or I will pretend that all is invisible. – not exactly realistic thinking to say the least but I tried.

By great fortune when I arrived in town, Kodiak a gentleman, Ted Rogers, offered to loan me a set of foam canoe carriers for my car roof. I just happened to meet Ted at the town ramp while I was assembling my kayak.

The foam roof carriers prevented my kayak from sliding around on the slightly domed roof of my car. I was a little worried that my precariously balanced kayak directly astride the roof might easily slip off to the side or do something odd if it was just tied onto the top of my car without any foam carriers. My other fear was that I would inadvertently create a huge dent in the roof as I tensioned my kayak into place with some sturdy truck driver knots. Don Betts and I discussed car roofs and dents from kayaks tied on. He has experienced all of the dents but I was renting this car, which makes these matters different.

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=007Bzj

http://www.everythingboats.com/catboat/forum/bbs.pl?read=2891

The last thing I wanted to do was to have to assemble and disassemble my kayak every time I drove to a launch site. This particular kayak was difficult to assemble taking me a good hour and much effort because of the fit of the frame into the hull and the design of the frame. This kayak was certainly not a Klepper.

I was lucky that I did not get into trouble with the car rental company because they did not exactly plan that their renter might be carrying a kayak on their rental car roof.

I was just lucky with their enthusiasm for my project, because I think that the weight and tie down pressure on the roof of my kayak did put a small dent in the roof.

Everybody including the car rental company saw me driving about with the kayak on top of the car, how could they possibly miss noticing a huge kayak on top of tiny car.

Aside from the main road into Kodiak the other roads are slow driving rutted dirt. Driving with my kayak on the roof on these bumpy roads contributed to putting a dent in my car roof.

Alaska is a unique area were flying is the norm and I found that Kodiak Island hosts all sorts of airfields and types of aircraft. To my complete delight I saw a Cessna float plane come into the floatplane base in the town of Kodiak and let off two happy fishermen. Floatplanes were everywhere. Inland at the “town airport” which had combination of a gravel runway ending at a lake with float planes from which Kodiak Air offers service. There are antique airplanes there on the island and one gentleman had just flown up the coast from Washington a 1935 Stearman complete with open cockpit. What a thrill to see that plane in the air.

The Coast Guard base at Old Woman Bay had all sorts of craft the huge Hercules transport planes down to an assortment of helicopters. Nearly every day the Coast Guard performed practice rescues over the water.

Kodiak is not a boring place to say the least. It is a great place to see all types of aircraft in action.

Salmon fishing is one of Kodiak’s greatest attractions. Although I did not do any fishing salmon fisherman come from all over the world year after year to enjoy this wonderful sport.

final approach over Kodiak	Piper floatplane at town airport	Floatplane base in Kodiak harbor	start of a hackysak game

Tom Watson, of Wavetamer Kayaking gave me a kayak tour guide that gave me a pamphlet about of the numerous launch sites near Kodiak.

This guide is written for paddlers who have never visited Kodiak before about what to expect with candid discussion about sudden weather changes. The guide offers a discussion of launch strategy suggesting the choice of launch sites facing east out of the prevailing from the west wind. A strong caution is given about weather forecasts of winds stating that winds 15 knots and above advising paddlers not to go in that condition because Kodiak is exposed to open ocean conditions.

A quick list of what to take in the kayak as far as how to dress extra clothing, various pieces of equipment such as a compass for fog because fog comes in quickly.

Each launch site is described fully with necessary warnings about miles of mud at low tide, erratic waves, shallow reefs, swells, where to go to look for birds, seals, sea lions and otters. Very helpful information was provided about how to handle sea lions because they are not as passive a seals.

I took a tour with Tom Watson around Near Island in my kayak. He shared with me unique paddling information.

He told me about Saint Herman, a hermit monk, lived two miles away from Kodiak on Spruce Island. St. Herman brought a better life and Orthodox Christianity to the native people of Kodiak.

http://www.saintandrew.net/fr_josiah/st_herman.htm

http://www.sspeterpaul.org/stherman.htm

Spruce Island is separated from Kodiak Island by a channel called Narrow Straight, which has a strong current. Spruce Island is described as a four hour round trip kayak paddle from Kodiak not recommended for beginning paddlers having open ocean conditions. Weather in this area can change dramatically during the four hour trip.

http://www.tidesend.com/action.lasso?-database=tel_products&-layout=Web&-response=p_productinfo.lasso&ProductID=176&-search

The charts for this area are 16580. 16604

Another day I paddled around the tree covered Popof, Crooked and Holiday Islands. I stopped here and there to look at the basaltic rocks, the large barnacles and seaweeds. Large kelp grows here even in the shallows.

After I investigated the Woody Island area I paddled across northeast to Shakafka Cove on Kodiak island and started down the coast toward town.

I came across a sea otter and sure enough he was among the kelp in the shallows for just a fleeting moment and then he was gone. I so wished he had stayed around and played but he was too shy.

http://www.goldenstateimages.com/otter.htm

Just as I rounded a small point heading back for Kodiak I came upon two Bald eagles sitting on a dead tree overhanging the beach just a few feet off the ground and about thirty feet away from me. They were resting after having feasted on sea otter carcass, unfortunately I did not have my cameras at the ready so I missed a wonderful very close up opportunity to photograph and video tape them. I wish I had not missed this opportunity because it was unusual to be that close to Bald Eagles.

Views from my kayak in the Near Island area

islands just off Kodiak	Acorn barnacles & fucus	Near Island rocks & trees	Fort Abercrombie Monashka Bay east

My first day June 20^th the weather was overcast. During the night it rained and the temperature was cold in the 50’s. My sleeping bag was marginal I regretted that I did not bring my Gore-tex bivi bag cover because of these very damp conditions.

Next morning was fine and I enjoyed making my breakfast at my campsite. If it had been raining I could have used a covered table available at the campgrounds next to the river.

From my campsite I had some thrilling experiences of watch Bald Eagles soaring above on the air currents.

Magpies and a short tailed squirrel visited my campsite and they became more and more daring at stealing food during my stay. I could not turn my back for a moment because just that quick they would be snatching food from any open container. I wonder what hot pepper would have done for the squirrels but for the magpies I doubt they mind hot pepper. What a bunch of nervy guys I tell you. They grew more brazen with each day.

Weather – how the clouds look

wind 30 knots low pressure wind shadow orographic clouds	Buskin area cloud cover light wind rain	weather changeable	Fort Abercrombie Monashka Bay low clouds

At the Buskin River campsite fishing for salmon is the favorite past time. I had the privilege of watching fly fishermen work the stream.

Smoked salmon is especially prized and salmon smoking equipment is available in many stores. I was given some smoked salmon to enjoy by the park attendants.

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3787/is_200311/ai_n9306671

The salmon fishery hatchery has been spawning program has been so successful that the population of adult salmon is much greater than at any time in the past. From this is a supply of salmon smolt that can be successfully exported. Kodiak Regional Aquaculture Association is having great success. In 2005 King salmon eggs were incubated and fry reared to smolt size at the Pillar Creek Hatchery, near Kodiak. Fishing will be available just a short drive from the city of Kodiak, at Monashka Bay where people can fish for them from the beach. This is wonderful news.

Buskin River for salmon fishing

Grass along the bank	Blue-green algae where river merges with the sea	Buskin River quiet spot	Buskin River fishing area

Salmon

Salmon netting off Buskin River	Salmon coming up the Buskin	Salmon smolt

The Beach

Red algae in the sand	The beach	Common green anemonies	Mix of sand and basalt stone flour

On a brilliant day I launched my kayak from the beach at Buskin River on St. Paul Harbor and paddled to Puffin Island, an isolated island to see puffins. To my delight I was able to be approach close enough to take pictures and videos without disturbing them. I treasured this moment because my only previous experience off Magadan in Siberia had been very disappointing because we were in a motorboat.

Puffins fly very fast, so fast that unless you are ready for them the opportunity of capturing them on film or video is impossible. To my shock I found that from the instant they are airborne they were out of range of both my 35 mm and video cameras.

Razorbills, which are also alcids and in many ways resemble the Puffin, I have watched in Greenland. They are much slower in fact they are completely unable to fly from cliffs. Their strategy is to jump off the cliffs, land on their breasts in the water and run over the water on their feet until they can fly. Razorbill flight strategy is completely the opposite of Puffins, another alcid.

http://www.yptenc.org.uk/docs/factsheets/animal_facts/razorbill.html

Puffins have always delighted and amazed me. They just seem so hard to believe. Their capability to fly is especially curious because they have a terrible time landing. They more or less crash land

A book titled The Atlantic Puffin by David Boag and Mike Alexander gives a wonderful description of how puffins fly and dive with excellent photographs illustrating this.

Seabird colony on island

Near Island beach	Glaucous gulls and puffin	Puffin watching me in my kayak

http://www.hww.ca/hww2.asp?pid=1&id=26&cid=7 .

Form Puffin Island in Chiniak Bay I paddled south across Womans Bay where the Coast Guard has its base to Cliff Island and on to Cliff Point. This is a rocky area of basalt just at the opening to Middle Bay.

The sea was very quiet and crystal clear allowing me to study the shallows looking at the lush growth of seaweeds and barnacles showing me that indeed these waters are very rich.

I rounded the peninsula and found that I was now in an area where Spruce trees were just starting to become established.

http://www.cgc.uaf.edu/Newsletter/gg5_1/spruce.html

This coastline is very rugged no place to land lots of jagged rocks, basaltic rock structures here and there. The tops are flanked with tundra vegetation blending into the last few invading Sitka spruce trees to the north. The tundra is a brilliant green carpet capping the rock underlay.

http://www.kodiak.org/geography_detailed.html

On the northeast corner of Kodiak Island there were lush forest areas with tall Sitka spruce at Fort Abercrombie and at Anton Larsen Bay in the sheltered areas.

I cannot explain why there are so many tall trees at Fort Abercrombie and such a profusion of boreal flowers along Monashka Bay. I guess this robust boreal plant distribution is due to the air currents.

In Anton Larsen Bay area where there was exposure to wind were trees in proportion to the wind thinning out to none where I suspect the wind blew the strongest.

At Fort Abercrombie I saw a two gun tubes about 60 foot long for eight-inch shells WWII Off Shore Gun, which could hit a target 20 miles or 32,570 meters away.

http://users.belgacom.net/artillery/artillerie/5467.html

http://www.kodiak.org/war.html

http://www.kadiak.org/ a listing of maps

Although Kodiak is glaciated still the topography is very dramatic featuring steep sided mountains in this eastern area of the island.

Middle Bay terrain

Approaching Middle Bay	East side of Middle Bay	Basaltic landscape	Arctic tundra area with boreal trees becoming established

I drove my car to Anton Larsen Bay eight miles on a dirt road to scout boreal and arctic plants. At the edge of the Sitka spruce forest I found a slumped bank, which showed the pale white two-foot thick layer of volcanic ash from 1912.

I found arctic and boreal plants growing in lush profusion side by side in occasional instances. The richness of the soil had a marked effect on the robustness of these plants.

There is an incredible array of boreal plants on Kodiak due to the volcanic dust deposit and constant small rain showers fogs only on the tops of local peaks at about 1,000 feet in June.

I took photos of this amazing array of plants growing side by side. I could have spent hours thinking about why various plants grew or did not grow beside the others from another eco zone.

The boreal and arctic plants grew in separate collections in other places dependant on sunlight and topographic conditions.

I enjoyed taking pictures and thinking about which plants I had seen in the Yama River area in Siberia a boreal area. I found it most amusing to see arctic plants especially plants I had seen even as far north as the high arctic in Pond Inlet Canada at 72  north. Some plants can grow in amazingly diverse ecological situations. Sedum and Scurvy grass are examples.

Plants in the Dock – Rumex and Plantain- Plantago family are universally edible, other species in these families are ordinary weeds in New England and are edible although many people have no idea about this.

In Kullorsuaq Greenland the leaves of Fireweed - Epilobium are eaten as a salad herb this same plant is universally eaten in Alaska as well. I was interested in the sense that I thought the Inuit people in Pond Inlet Canada do not eat greens preferring to subsist on meat and fish only. However I may be wrong about this conclusion.

On the way to Anton Larsen Bay the valley slunk away from the road and rose up to dramatic two thousand foot mountains. Pyramid Mountain, which truly reflected its name was covered with spruce had waterfalls plunging into thin air down the steep side.

Boreal Forestation

1912 layer of volcanic ash	Very large Spruce tree	Spruce forest floor	Dryopeteris dilitata

Fort Abercrombie flowers Monashka Bay edge area

Cow parsnip Heracleum lanatum temperate & boreal	Shooting Star Dodecatheon pulchellum	Beach Peas and Geranium temperate & boreal	Yellow Geum temperate & boreal

I enjoyed the elegant brilliant blue flowers of Monkshood - Acronitum and I had seen the same plant in Siberia. It is a type of delphinium having that intense blue with unique black stamens on a slender stalk.

There were many plants listed as edible however I looked without eating in most instances because I did not want to find out I happened to have made a slight mistake.

At home in Connecticut I have a relative of Goatsbeard in my garden called Martha Washington’s Plume.

Fort Abercrombie flowers Monashka Bay edge area

Monkshood Aconitum boreal	Amerorchis rotundifolia boreal	Aruncus sylvester Goatsbeard boreal	Houckenya peploides boreal & arctic

Flowers from Anton Larsen forest area

Platanthera dilatata Orchid boreal & arctic	Moneses uniflora boreal & arctic	Woodwardia rooted in volcanic dust boreal & arctic	Ledum palustre boreal & arctic

I came across a Chocolate Lily – Fritillaria to my surprise the bulbs are edible, however I was delighted to see this plant in the wild in full flower because it is especially beautiful.

Flowers from Anton Larsen forest area

Arctostaphylos uva-ursi boreal & arctic	Chocolate lily Fritillaria boreal

I found Drocera, the Sundew, which grows in very specialized bog situations where nitrogen nutrients are low. In the 1970’s when I was working for Luigi Provasoli, I had created an artificial medium to grow these plants on, however I could not duplicate the normal growth rate of these plants in nature. To this day I wonder what component was missing.

Flowers and plants from acid bog area near Anton Larsen Bay

Acid bog with trees becoming established	Lycopodium selago	Drocera rotundifolia boreal	Mix of acidic bog plants

Joe Kelly told me that on Aleut single baidarka the skin covering for the tip of the bow are sewn and slipped on the frame but that skin covering on the stern is laced on. This makes sense because the bifurcated tip of the bow is too complex to sew with waterproof stitches directly over the frame. I interviewed Joe Kelly about the Aleut baidarka at the Aleutiiq Museum. From that interview I created a video with Joe Kelly’s detailed observations about the Kodiak Baidarka.

http://www.seakayakermag.com/miva/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=51&Category_Code=110

http://www.traditionalkayaks.com/bibliographyandresources/booklist.html

Joe had made a detailed study and taught people how to build this baidarka.

http://www.alutiiqmuseum.com/

Of great interest, he told me that alder is used for ribs but now spruce is used. I was interested to know that alder does not have to be steamed.

Alder is one of those edge of the Arctic and Boreal trees that I sat in a forest of along the Baillie River in the Canadian Barren-grounds. They were all of four feet tall last we saw them before were too far north for them to grow.

http://www.guillemot-kayaks.com/Trips/Gail/BaillieRiver1990.htm

The original lashing was done with spruce roots. I would have thought whale baleen. Which lashing mater may have been used is an interesting question because speed of the baidarka is affected by frame rigidity. The more flexible the frame the more seaworthy and faster is the baidarka. Baleen makes a very stiff lashing.

In Barrow Alaska I was just amazed to find as local people had told me that flint and fossilized ivory and bone pieces wash up on Point Barrow lashed with baleen after any storm.

http://www.guillemot-kayaks.com/Trips/Gail/91BarrowAlaska.htm

Joe Kelly told me that Aleutian kayaks were designed to be knelt in. From my experience in paddling canoes the vertical paddle generates the optimum propulsion force because all of the paddle blade generating no yaw during the stroke. From a hunters perspective the hunter is best able from this height to see the quarry such as sea otters in rough waters.

Joe told me that even though he tried he could not paddle while kneeling but that he had to sit because the kayak seemed impossibly unstable. I wonder if the Aleut of Kodiak ballasted their kayaks with 25-kilo stones as Ivan Veniaminov and Alexi Chirikov mentioned in their writings about the baidarka. This reference is on page 295 of Contributions to Kayak Studies edited by E.Y. Arima the article is Form and Function of the Baidarka: the Framework of Design by George Dyson.

http://www.alutiiqmuseum.com/

Hans Tscherfich built a single baidarka from Joe Kelly’s lines of a Kodiak single Baidarka and demonstrated his baidarka for me. I was very pleased to take photos and video footage of how this baidarka behaves on the water. I was especially interested in the bifurcated bow because I knew that the bifurcated bow was one of the famous Aleut design secrets for maximizing speed by reduction of surface area frictional drag.

The bottom of the bow is a low volume sharply defined shape to provide directional stability when paddling in small waves and low wind conditions. The cut in the bow is to allow for the skin to conform to the low volume shape of the bottom portion of the bow with minimal surface area involved. The upper portion of the bow is most efficiently designed by being entirely separate from the lower portion. The upper portion of the bow is much fatter because it is needed to produce lift or buoyancy in large seas so that the Baidarka will ride up and over waves instead of burying itself into the wave drastically slowing the boat down or worse yet risking that the bow continue to bury and the baidarka do an ender while surfing down wave faces. The last thing I would want to do in my kayak or baidarka is to go for an ender!

Drawing of baidarki Showing paddler kneeling	Joe Kelly reproduction of Kodiak Single baidarka paddler sitting	Joe Kelly reproduction of Kodiak Single baidarka paddler sitting

At the Baranov Museum I photographed and video taped the two-hole baidarka suspended upside down from the ceiling. John Heath has measured this and he asked me to look at the lacing inside to pull the skin together.

http://home.earthlink.net/~jheath1821/review.html

http://www.traditionalkayaks.com/bibliographyandresources/booklist.html

The Baranov museum had a wonderful selection of kayak models. However I did not record any of those, as I was most fascinated with the real thing.

The paddles both single and double were most interesting because they had a ridge down the center on the stroke side. I had just come from Kullorsuaq and interviewed Nikolaj Jensen who also advocated a ridge down the center of the paddle to prevent flutter during acceleration. My understanding from both Nikolaj and myself was that this ridge prevents flutter during the beginning of the acceleration by splitting the vortex coming off the blade face in half.

www.nkhorizons.com/NikolajJensenkayak.html

http://www.baranov.us/index.htm

I used my 4 AA cell flashlight mounted on my head to illuminate the interior. I had just enough light to record via camera and video. This system worked out very simply because the lens of the light was powerful enough to focus bright light as a spotlight where ever I pointed my head and cameras.

I have listed a few websites about the Baidarka below.

http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi668.htm study of the Baidarka by Ivan Veniaminov

http://www.guillemot-kayaks.com/Building/StripBuilt/Aleut/Offsets.html an example of Baidarka lines

http://nature.berkeley.edu/departments/espm/env-hist/espm160/assignments/ft_ross/Ft_Ross_photos2.htm

At this time Old Harbor has people who know about kayaks. Dave Kubiak and Jan say a fellow fishermen on Monashka Bay Larry Maffie has stories to tell about baidarki. Unfortuantely I did not visit Old Harbor.

www.guillemot-kayaks.com/Trips/Gail/GailsVideos.html a video about the Kodiak kayak is listed in this address.

Three man baidarka frame Possibly paddled by Venianov at St.Herman’s	Aleut baidarka frames single bow and stern

Baranov Museum 2 man baidarka Bow ribs and deck beams	Baranov Museum 2 man baidarka Bow ribs and stringers

Baranov Museum 2 man baidarka Bow deck	Baranov Museum 2 man Baidarka double blade paddle

On Sunday morning I attended Divine Liturgy. Never before had I experienced a church service and church music that was so profoundly uplifting.

Just as I was leaving church I mentioned to a gentleman that I was not Orthodox and he said to me “But the church is for everyone!” Never had I heard such a statement about any church or religious faith before. I was so profoundly affected by his statement and the music that later I converted to Russian Orthodoxy and joined the church choir of St. Alexis in Clinton CT.

I bought a tape of Russian orthodox hymns in English. I had never heard church music sung from the heart as this music is. I played the music over and over again giving me great inspiration and peace of mind.

Little was I to know that St. Innocent is Ivan Veniaminov and that he did the most complete study of the baidarka with drawings describing this craft which he traveled the coast of Alaska.

Kodiak Museum of the History of the Orthodox Church in Alaska has the frame of a baidarka hanging from the ceiling, which I wonder may have been used by St. Innocent.

http://dioceseofalaska.org/shs/html/feb_ord_2005.html

St. Innocent was a great paddler of the baidarka because in his biography he stated that when he was trapped on the coast of Siberia during a war he and his company could have very easily escaped down the coast out of the war blockade if they had a baidarka. I thought to myself this is a man after my own heart. Just use a baidarka or a kayak when all else fails. I used to cross to Rogers Island after a hurricane before anyone else could get on the water because all I had to do was put my kayak in the water and go. When Stony Creek harbor was frozen in and no other boats could move I would just find an ice free spot on the coast and launch my kayak. The freedom of a kayak or baidarka is to be envied.