michael mcinturf ARCHITECTS

@ Cincinnati

“The kayak is a slender and quite flat type with very little sheer towards the ends. The framework is built of wood which must be light, pliable, trough without essential knots, and of suitable length. It was necessary to join the pieces together by a strong but still elastic method to respond to the pressure of the waves without breaking or splitting. Greenlanders were masters of the lashing technique; the lashings were made of thin sealskin strips. Just fore of the cockpit of the kayak there is a characteristic wide and curved forward cockpit deck beam, which connects and holds together the gunwales. The deck beam is sawn from one piece of wood, with the underside cut on the slant to facilitate entrance into the kayak.”


excerpt from “The Greenland Kayak and Its Accessories” by P. Scavenius Jensen, 1975.