The History of the Sea Kayak and the Sport.
The exact origin of the kayak is unknown, but we do know that the first people to navigate with kayaks were the Eskimos. It is believed to be the oldest type of boat that is still employed today, estimating over 3,000 years old.
Kayaks were utilized by the Aleuts (inhabitants of the Aleutian archipelago near Alaska), the Inuits of Northern Canada, the Norse of Greenland and Iceland, Lapons in Northern Europe, and the Koryak and Chukchi tribes in Siberia.
According to some historians, the word kayak means “clothing for going in the water” since it was built to the exact measurements of the paddler. Other historians say it means “man-small boat”. Nowadays, many paddlers maintain that you “put on” a kayak, not get in one.
In the Eskimo society, children could not navigate these boats until they became older and reached their maximum growth. Then, almost like a ritual, the family constructed a kayak especially for the child. It was said that if an Eskimo went out to hunt and did not return, he had borrowed the boat.
Eskimos also created garments used specifically for this activity such as the anorak, using the gut of a bird, among other materials. They also developed a type of spray deck that only exposed the paddler’s face.
They also developed techniques such as the roll, that allowed them to make a quick exit in case the kayak flipped. This was important because exposure to the freezing waters could kill them instantly. Moreover, Eskimos supposedly did not know how to swim.
In the present day.
The first document that makes an allusion to the existence of the Eskimo kayak was published in the year 1424; the work of Danish cartographer, Clavus, in accordance with advancements in explorations, especially in northern Europe.
In 1535, Frenchman Jacques Cartier, on his return trip through a region known presently as Canada, describes the canoes utilized by the Indians of that region. Around that time period, Baron La Honteau provided the first bit of information about the length, weight, and materials used in the construction of these boats. In 1557, English explorer Burrogh mentions having seen Eskimos in the northern seas, navigating and hunting in their kayaks.
In 1765, a missionary described ten techniques used by Eskimos to carry out the roll utilizing the paddle, hands, and even a harpoon to help them.
The birth of modern kayaking took place around the year 1865 when a Scottish lawyer named John McGregor shocked London when he navigated the Thames River in a boat based off Eskimo standards. The Rob Roy, the name of the kayak in question, was 15 ft. (4.57 m.) long and 30 in. (76 cm.) wide; made entirely out of cedar and oak wood and weighing approximately 66 lbs. (30 kg). He carried out many journeys along European rivers, arriving to the coast of Palestine and the River Nile.
McGregor recorded his experiences in journals that later became successful books among the public. One of them entitled “A thousand miles in the Rob Roy canoe on the rivers and lakes of Europe” raised a lot of interest among the young population of London, and within time the Royal Canoe Club was founded; the world’s first kayaking club that was also approved by Queen Victoria in 1873.
The American Canoe Association was founded in the United States in 1880, but leans more towards the Canadian Canoe due to its North American origin. This type of boat was introduced to Europe in the year 1885 when the rowing club in Bonn, Germany was established. In 1889, the first international competitions were held in the Po River in Turin.
In 1885, Norwegian Fridtjof Nansen employed Eskimo kayaks on his expedition to the North Pole. These were essential for his return journey, as he had to avoid the sheets of ice that formed between large masses of glacial ice.
In the year 1900, Alfred Heurich, an architectural student in Munich, built a type of kayak that could be taken apart. He made it out of wood and canvas and named it the Dolphin. Five years later, he sold his patent to Johann Klepper, a tailor from Rosenheim. Klepper became a powerful entrepreneur in no time and began manufacturing folding kayaks under the Klepper trademark and with the help of navigator Carl Luther who designed the kayaks. They were light, easy to disassemble and transport, and became so popular in Germany, that kayaking was introduced as an event in the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. In 1909, C.E. Layton crossed the Mancha Channel in a Klepper kayak.
Meanwhile, in 1904, the French Federation of Canoeing and Kayaking was founded, however, it was more oriented towards the Canadian Canoe than the kayak. The Monneret brothers were importing these canoes as a rivalry among paddlers of kayaks and canoes began to surge. Followers of the kayak vouched for its agility and swiftness while canoe supporters remained faithful to their more stable and spacious boat.
In the summer of 1927, a paddler from the Vienna Kayak Club called Hans Eduard Pawlatta, perfected the Eskimo roll based on accounts from explorers Nansen and Jophansen, making it more simple and efficient. The name of the maneuver went down in history as the Eskimo-Pawlatta. This technique allowed kayakers to conquer their fear of flipping in rapids, causing a major boom in the sport. Pawlatta was also the first to perform the roll with his hands, without any help from a paddle.
For fifty years, Klepper continued manufacturing the fabric model kayaks. In the 1959 championships, Anton Prijon; a paddler from Nova Gorica, Slovenia who later became a German citizen; showed up with a new kayak model based off the Downriver canoe. In addition, he patented a type of paddle with an oval, spoon-like blade and he used a neoprene cockpit cover for the first time. In 1962, Anton and his wife launched their own kayak business in Rosenheim, Germany, specializing in models for Olympic competitions, expeditions, and white-water.
The 70’s marked the end of the Klepper monopoly and the beginning of plastic/fiberglass kayaks when in 1971, Tom Derrer created the Eddyline Kayak Company in Boulder, Colorado. More development and refinement in technique occurred when Milo Duffek first implemented the maneuver named after him that allows rapid shifting of the bow, essential for making quick turns between two opposing currents of water. The slalom became part of the Munich Olympic Games in 1972, for which the Germans constructed artificial rapids in Augsburg. Another leading kayak company, Perception, originated in the United States in 1976.
The following year, in 1977, the British boat designer Frank Goodman along with three friends, circumnavigated Cape Horn for the first time, paddling in their Nordkapps. The kayaks had arrived from England already damaged and had to be repaired by drying the resin and fiberglass over a stove. During the journey they discovered a lake on Cape Horn Island which had never been recorded in any document.
In 1981, Anton Prijon acquired a gigantic, 39.3 foot-tall machine that manufactured kayaks using a new extrusion method called “blow-molding”. In 1982, they launched the “Taifun”, the first kayak made from high performance plastic making it more durable and flexible.
We have witnessed the rapid spread of kayaking at the global level within the last several years and thanks to new materials and designs, safer and swifter kayaks are being successfully developed.
