2A. Canoes & Kayaks

My very first finding at the Center for Wooden Boats, even before my Cape Ann dory sail and my close-up with Haida dugout canoes, was the biggest surprise. I walked into the Center and was immediately confronted by a few folks working away on some skin-on-frame Aleut baidarkas. It sure looked like a class, and indeed it was. Holy smokes, I thought, this place runs boatbuilding classes too? It does offer boatbuilding classes - lots - and a bunch of other kinds of classes too.

It seems they have run this class before, as there were a few finished baidarkas on the floats. I found these to be really lovely kayaks. I confess I am much more a fan of other forms of kayaks - some baidarkas just look funny to me - but these ones worked really well. The class was doing a fantastic job too. They were building the boats entirely with pegs and lashing and the details were great. I was particularly struck by the bows.

It seems that the various classes run the mix from being day or weekend classes to full-week ones, like this baidarka one. This would be a great destination. We haven't even touched on Puget Sound beyond...

Hopefully you enjoyed my last post on my first rental experience at the the Center for Wooden Boats in Seattle. Let me now step back to some of the other treasures I saw there.

I thought they might have a Haida dugout canoe there, and I was itching to see a real one. They do not, though, have one. They have two and quarter. Behold.

They had one in the water; I am not sure if it is open for rent (though I will be asking next time). It is one fine-looking chunk of cedar, though, eh? I find these boats beautiful, not just for the lines, but also for the artwork. Native Northwest art is incredible, and seeing it on a boat is seeing it in a truly natural form.

The second canoe was up on land; not sure what its status is. Her artwork is well displayed, though:

I came upon the site for the Hawaiian Sailing Canoe Association tonight. Mostly info about their race series, but they do have a nice photo gallery that is worth looking at. Looks like these boats absolutely fly - I need to try one.

Photo by Terry Galpin

Location: Hawaii, USA

Some of our kindred spirits have been hard at work. Canoe Sailing Magazine has launched online - congrats to the proud authors! I just noticed its birth just this evening and haven't looked at it much, but I am fairly confident I won't live to regret giving it the Chine bLog stamp of approval in the form of a place in our Honor Roll and RSS reader. Todd Bradshaw, he of Canoe Rig fame, seems to be in the mix, so I'm in based on that alone. This looks fantastic, folks - well done!

As I have said before, we bloggers are easy to please: give us a nice comment and we are set for a couple weeks. I was thus thrilled with the comment Suzie Alwash left on my recent post on the traditional wooden canoes of the Ma'dan (Marsh Arabs) of todays Southern Iraq. Suzie gave us great additional information, including the type of boat: "mashhoof" and construction. Sweet! Suzie should know. She is Senior Project Advisor with a project called Eden Again, dedicated to restoring the marshlands of Mesopotamia. In other words, she knows the area well and is just back from there. The best part - yes, there is more than her informative comment - is her offer of more photos. Needless to say, I gladly accepted and am happy to share them below on her behalf (if you enjoy them, you might thank her by seeing how you can help her organization).

Incidentally, these marshes and their restoration seem to be much in the news. Here is an article today from The Times.

Location: Al Chabaish, Iraq