Beneath my arms she rests, quiet,
Peaceful in her patience, awaits
The Life that surrounds her, protects her,
Gently shaping her majesty to come.
Creature of the Living Sea, Shaped
Of Struggle, Chaos brought to law
of Art and Freedoms, Battles won,
The whale's Blood not lost in Song
But carried boldly, caring firmly
A World Unknown to us on Land -
Perfect in their sphere of Justice,
Mercy's Sword defending Hand
Thus gives a Birth anew the Hope
Of living ever with the Sea
That molds the Life of things to come
And Creates the Love She soon will be.
- WKDe Vaney
Trust that a major surgery can alter the course of one's being, but that being said, it doesn't have to be without it's benefits. So has it been for me - a defective joint about to fail completely, completely removed and replaced. I am jokingly referred to as the "Bionic Boatbuilder" now, as that hip is now Titanium and Cobalt steel. It works better than the original, and has given this old Veteran a new lease on life. So, with that renewed energy, I am back in the shop, to finish what I started. My Wife is pleased, And so am I.
A lot has been happening, as the work continues with Kielidgh Irene. It would seem odd that a Norwegian designer of over 100 years ago could have led me to an appreciation of the genius behind the design and construction techniques of the People of the Arctic, but such it is. Colin Archer was well know for his sea worthy double enders, and his designs were extensively used for the rescue boats that served Norway during the turn of the last century.
In John Leather's book "Colin Archer and the Seaworthy Double-ender", Colin's exceptional abilities are explained with the very vessels he designed.
In review of the reasoning behind his country's considerable sea sense, I couldn't help but refelct on my own experience with the council offered to me by my own mentor, Norwegian Naval Architect Ben F. Jensen. He sent me into the shipyards and boatyards for several years before I began to seriously design, and the process of this experience exposed me to the attributes of many boat characteristics, throughout the world. Ben and Colin brought me into a whole new world of boat design, a fisherman who learned from the masters what a good boat really had to offer.
So, in this process you learn that design follows function. And that goes for something even as humble as a Kayaq. Especially for the Kayaq, as it 's design and function often determines by the quality of it's build and characteristics, whether the kayaqer lives or dies. Of all, she is exposed to the most uncompromising conditions for her size of any boat out there, and has the greatest demands upon her expectations. Because she is the families' means of survival - if she fails, you starve. If she fails completely, you don't live long enough to starve.
It's really just that simple.
Having grown up in that way of life, I can appreciate the qualities that make a subsistence kayaq the unique and beautiful vessel she is. She adapts to the elements as the creature of the sea that she is, and with the creatures she must live with as well. Kielidgh Irene will flow with the whales and the sea lions as her predecessors have before her, those with myself, and with the memories of those ancestors who have gone before us. We can hardly appreciate the difficulties of the life they endured - but can give them the respect through her lines that their experience has imparted through their legacy. I hope to do it well.
So with heart in the future of her past, She takes shape. And begins to breathe.
She is shaped from the land, a creation of the material that gives her life.
The ash ripped down for the frames and paddles is cured, as the pine knee from last fall is brought out for shaping into the critical deck beam for which it was harvested.
Then, the shaping begins...
Once the knee is measured and fit to set into the notches created for it's acceptance on the gun'l, then the forward Spruce ridge pole for the deck is set into place, the unit becoming a whole...
These pictures were taken as the final fitting was being done, after the steam and boiling of the frames into place. That was a chore in itself, as the green ash had to be quarter sawn to allow for the grain to run flat with the bend. Then the steam box was fired up, and once the box itself was operational, as explained in a previous article, they were pulled and bent into place. The bow frames were the most difficult, and had to be boiled to take the additional stress of the more radical bends...
Once the frames are trimmed and set into place, however, the jungle becomes more civilized, and the work begins to make more sense...
Here is where the real ingenuity of the People comes out. In the areas where the seaways they had to navigate were choppy and short, twisting their kayaqs' framework against itself, the friction of the frames rubbing against the keel could become a serious problem. The chaffing wood often began to loosen as it pulled itself apart.
To solve this problem, the ancients would inlay a small piece of polished ivory into the keel, under the frame before they were tied together, thus protecting the secured pieces as the frame rested upon the polished ivory instead of being in direct contact with the keel.
As a scrimshaw artist legally allowed to work in fossilized ivory, I have on hand the opportunity to incorporate this advantage into Kielidgh Irene as well. So my usual artistic practice
is challenged in a new and diverse way, as I set into her frame, the symbolic scrimmed ivory of her heritage.
Once embedded into the notch provided in the keel, the frame is set into place over the 3/4 inch square piece of scrimmed ivory, and then secured as a unit covering the tiny artwork of the boat's practical character.
The knee supporting the byforcated bow is set into place with treenails, and the entire bow unit lashed together with fresh lashing lines. Here is the one important break from tradition, as I must resort to nylon for this task. Much stronger, however, lasts longer - and doesn't rot. A definite plus.
With the oak trailboards secured in a like manner into the bow framework, the little kayaq begins to feel the hope of life stirring within her.
She is ever closer to her destiny, the ice of her progenitors calling her back into the rhythm of the Arctic seas...
