Chine bLog

Here's a movie you Chine bLog readers should see: "Ten Canoes." The movie recounts an Australian Aboriginal myth, highlighting the culture and practices of the people of far Northern Australia in the process. It is another in the genre of movie that features actual members of an indigenous community in the area where the film is set. I happen to go for this type - these "untrained actors" always do an amazing job and, in this case as well as others, create a lovely tale.

Here is the bonus: as the title suggests, local traditional canoes, and the making of them, play a hefty "supporting actor" role. I clipped the image here from the movie site. They are bark canoes (the tree species is not identified). The builders basically cut around the circumference of the trunk at the bottom and then make another cut around it about 15 feet for so up the trunk. Apparently it has to be the right season so the bark is supple. They then cut a straight line down the trunk, thus allowing them to unroll a roughly 15 foot buy three foot sheet. As best I could tell, they then stitch the ends together, stitching two rows in the bow to create a flat surface. Somewhere in here they also some branches as athwartship "frames." Finally, they cut the bow shape out of the stitched end. Voila, a bark canoe, down-under style.

As I have mentioned before, I am always impressed to see how different boaters around the world design their craft...

I recently found some comments I had heretofore not noticed, including one from designer / builder Michael Storer, who seems to hail from Australia. Thanks for visiting, Michael! Storer has some nice-looking plans, including one I particularly like, a sailing canoe called BETH.