Message From the Editor
Welcome to the Qajaq Journal. The increasing popularity of skin-on-frame kayaks and native style paddling techniques in the past few years has been astonishing. The ranks of those who have abandoned their wide recreation paddles in favor of a leaner and more elegant means of propulsion seem to be growing daily. The creation of Qajaq USA reflects this developing interest. Our primary goal as an organization is to promote the growth of Greenland style kayaking. We seek to accomplish this through our website and forums, by sponsoring and participating in kayak symposiums, as well as by supporting the publication of our member newsletter The Masik and this Journal.
In my opinion, our tendency as enthusiasts has been to focus mainly on the boats and paddles, while neglecting the history and the larger cultural circumstances of their creation and use. We often miss the important fact that for northern natives the kayak and the Umiak existed as a means to an end, and not an end in and of themselves. It is clear that hunting was the primary purpose these boats were built. I have trief to include a native voice in every issue of the Journal in the belief that what will result is a deeper appreciation and understanding of the watercraft, as well as the cultures that created them.
The Arctic is a geographically vast place with a complex history. The development and use of kayaks and umiaks played a significant part in that story. While for the most part the focus of the Journal was on kayaks, I also on occasion included articles on the other forms of watercraft that were or are in use in the North. The often neglected umiak—which was in use across the Arctic, the kayak-form canoes used by sub-arctic Indians, improvised floats and motorized freight canoes, to name but a few, are all deserving of study. In issues of Qajaq I sought to offer our readership an interesting mix of history, technique and ethnographic accounts covered the wide range of watercraft used and developed by northern peoples.
Yours,
Vernon Doucette