• Happy International Coffee Day! ☕🍵

Indisputable proof that kayaks have always been clown cars

When my older daughter was 5 (she's 45 now), she watched Nanook of the North with me when I showed it to a group. She was so taken by it that she wanted to replicate it. I still have the old Phoenix "Isere" touring kayak that is pretty much see-through fiberglass. She grabbed a book, her favorite stuff animal, put on her red "Little Slugger" ball cap and climbed into the bow end of the kayak. I slid into the cockpit and we spent the next half hour together on our pond; me paddling and her giggling below decks. It was a blast!

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper
 
i wonder what brand of PFD they are wearing?
I think their clothes are very buoyant. I was talking with an Inupiat whale hunter a couple years ago and he told me a story where ten men went in the water when their boats capsized. None of them knew how to swim and none had PFDs, but they all survived. Their parkas are typically made from caribou hides and they have hollow hair.
 
When my wife was pit crewing my Yukon River races, shw had the opportunity to sit with First Nation residents while waiting for us to pass. Most have never learned to swim, unlesss they attended school in Whitehorse which has a large athletic complex with a pool. The silt in the river, especially below Lake Laberge and the confluence of the Teslin it is so thick that it clings to everything and fills pockets and clothing, weighting them down. You cannot see a millimeter into the water and when paddling through, as it sounds like sandpaper or mistuned AM radio static on the bottom of the canoe. Few survive falling into the near freezing waters at any time of year, as my wife was told.
 
Last edited:
I've heard the silt on the bottom of my boat and I've heard that it will drag you down if you swim, but I'm not sure it's true. Unfortunately there are a lot of drowning deaths in remote AK. but I doubt many victims were wearing traditional fur clothing or a pfd for that matter. Maybe it would have saved them and maybe not.
 
Back
Top Bottom