Kayaking started 5,000 years ago in the arctic by the the Inuit and Aleut tribes. They used two types of kayak at this point: “One was built with light driftwood, while the others were made by stretching animal skins over frames made of whalebone. The tribe members used whale fat to waterproof the vessels. To improve buoyancy, they’d fill seal bladders with air and tuck them into the fore and aft sections.
In addition to the single-person versions that look like modern kayaks, they also used umiaqs — larger kayaks that could carry entire families and their possessions. Some umiaqs were as long as 60 feet (18.3 meters). The smaller kayaks were primarily used for hunting. The word kayak actually means “hunter’s boat.” Kayaks are ideal for hunting because of their stealth nature. Inuits could sneak up on unsuspecting animals on the shoreline or in the water.” https://adventure.howstuffworks.com/outdoor-activities/water-sports/kayaking4.htm
Some of the animals they hunter were: they would harpoon seals, walrus, and whales many times larger than the hunters, then tow them all the way home, giving them improved life dramatically, and it did not without enormous risk.
How old is racing a kayak?
Kayak racing has been around for sometime but we can see it in the Olympics in 1936, “included kayak races in the Berlin games. The United States began to get on board at this point, as did women — two years after the Olympics, Genevieve De Colmont paddled the white-water of the Green and Colorado rivers. Fiberglass “rigid” kayaks came on the scene in the 1950s and were the standard until polyethylene plastic took over in the 1980s. Kayaking enjoyed modest participation as a fringe sport in the U.S. until the 1970s, when it began to move more to the mainstream. Now the Olympic Games feature more than 10 different white-water kayak events.” https://adventure.howstuffworks.com/outdoor-activities/water-sports/kayaking4.htm
I am currently looking to add more information on the history of kayaking in the coming weeks.
Additional Information: Fishing Maps that might be helpful for your next fishing trip.
Conclusion
Hope this post was helpful to you and that you have a very successful trip fishing with your friends and family! Check out the other sections of my blog for more tips on KayaksBoats.
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