Chine bLog

I was able to get in a quick peek at the National Museum of the American Indian, which keeps a few traditional boats in its rotunda. I have written about the semi-traditional Inuit kayak before, but I didn't have a shot of the completed boat. Here she is.

The boat is pretty and definitely fits within its tradition, but clearly comes off as a modern replica. Its skin is a bright white, very light-weight nylon. Many modern skin-on-frames use ballistic nylon that, when varnished, looks at least vaguely like a true skin. This one definitely does not.

For a boat that is closer to a true traditional version of itself, I present this beauty: an Ojibwe birch bark canoe. Check out the detailed shots in the extended entry. There is some really interesting detail on this boat.

Here are most of the other pictures I took at the Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival.

I was able to get out on the water this AM, which was, needless to say, a very good thing. I set my kayak in Piscataway Creek, MD, a Potomac tributary several miles downriver from DC. I've been there a few times and am always impressed with it. I dropped the boat in the water in thick fog and September chill. I paddled along the northern shore - it is a wide, shallow tidal bay at that point. It was beautiful and still the pictures can't really do it justice.

Gradually the fog burned off. I headed up the true creek for a while. There was lots of bird life back in there - I got buzzed by a great blue heron at one point - and few signs of people after a few houses by the mouth. A great morning on the water.

Launch site: Fort Washington Marina, Fort Washington, MD.