Modern Greenland Kayaking: How Traditional Became Trendy | The origins of Greenland-style paddling are lost in the folds of oral history, sepia-toned photographs and the minds of modern-day theorists, but the renaissance of modern Greenland kayaking is as tangible as the thousands of toothpick-wielding paddlers churning north American waters today.
Greenland-style kayaking has grown remarkably in recent years. Every major kayak symposium now includes a Greenland rolling demonstration or paddling workshop. This February, Florida’s Sweetwater Kayaks organized its first Greenland-only symposium, while Qajaq USA’s training camp, held in Michigan every August since 2002, puts names on a waiting list a month in advance.John Heath began his mission to reaffirm the design attributes of traditional Arctic kayaks in the 1950s. He travelled from Siberia to Greenland, interviewing the last kayak-hunters and measuring their boats. Until he passed away in 2003, Heath argued for the merits of the Inuit designs, figuring that in a time when the price of poor kayak performance was drowning or starvation, the boats had to be well thought-out.In 1998, Heath brought Maligiaq Padilla, a 16-year-old Greenland national kayaking champion, to the United States for a year-long circuit of symposiums. For Mark Molina, an American paddler who has competed twice and won multiple gold medals in the Greenland National Kayaking Championships, it was Padilla’s demonstrations of traditional paddling techniques that kindled the Greenland-style renaissance.“I never liked anything about kayaking until I saw what Maligiaq could do,” Molina says.Padilla’s visit brought what was then a small but dedicated community of Greenland-style paddlers into the mainstream. Continue reading: https://bit.ly/3HGYqSe
: Conor Mihell
: Becky and Mark Molina
: This article was first published in the Early Summer 2006 issue of Adventure Kayak Magazine. Paddling Magazine
Arcane lore like this is always intriguing and it is surprising what people get into. Paddling is huge, however, and the will to know all is there. Steve’s books on Asian Longdogs, etc fit the category.