The Umiaq - a traditional boat from Greenland
Roger Felix - Lund - Sweden
The Umiaq is a traditional boat from Greenland. It has been used by for catching wales and for heavy transports and it was paddled using sinle blade paddles. Another name for the Umiaq is "womans boat", probably beacuse it was paddled by the women when moving between settlements.
The pictures are from a two-week voyage in 1995.
This picture shows the interior of the Umiaq built in Ljungskile during the winter 1986-87. This Umiaq measures 11 m in length and it is 1.3 metres wide.
MERE...
The Umiaq has been used for a lot of projects and in other activities. A two-week voyage was made in 1995 from Ljungskile to Grebbestad and then returning back to Ljungskile again.
Traditionally a Umiaq had a skeleton made of wood, dressed with multiple seal skins, that were sewn together, making up a large hull. The seal skin was lubricated with fat from seals/wales. It has been proved that this type of boat has been used on south-east greenland, west greenland, Baffin Island, Labrador-peninsula, the Mackenzie-delta, east-sibiria and on the Bering islands. There has been findings, showing that this boat type was existant already around year 900 in the Thule-area.
The Umiaq described here was built 1986-87 in Ljungskile. The Project was a cooperation between the organisation Argaladei and the Sparreviken Camp. The skeleton was built from pine, and the hull was made of thick canvas. The cloth was painted with a mixture containing chalk, and was painted to become water-proof. During the years this Umiaq has b
