Qayaqing Traditions

A Heritage of Skin Boats

From the Arctic Ocean to Prince William Sound, Alaska’s Native people crafted swift, seaworthy boats from wood and animal skins. Each culture had a distinct style of qayaq with unique qualities designed to meet the demands of the environment. Alutiiq qayaqs were long and slender, built for flexibility in the rough, windy waters of the Pacific Ocean.

In every culture, however, the qayaq was a symbol of manhood. No man could be a successful provider without his own skin boat. Carefully crafted and well-maintained qayaqs were a lifeline. They allowed men to harvest fish and sea mammals from the ocean, to travel and trade over great distances, and to carry supplies home. In coastal Alaska, every man was qayaq builder and paddler.

With Generous Support From:
The Alaska Humanities Forum, Kodiak Island Housing Authority, and the Kodiak Island Borough School District

Alutiiq Qayaqs

A triple-hatched qayaq. Photo courtesy the National Archives, Albatross Collection

Types of Alutiiq Qayaqs

Prehistoric Alutiiq carvings show only single-hatched qayaqs, yet historic records and the Alutiiq language document three types;

Qayanguaq - Single-hatched: For fishing, traveling, and hunting fast animals like porpoise and whales.

Qayaqhpak - Double-hatched: For team hunting, particularly sea otters. The man in the front hatch hurled weapons while the man in the rear steadied and steered the qayaq.

Paitalek - Triple-hatched: Alutiiqs began making three-person boats in the Russian era. A large hatch in the center held a Russian trader, smaller hatches in the bow and stern provided seats for Native paddlers.

Alfred Naumoff holds a model kayak frame he built.

Boat Models

Model kayaks were both toys and a way to teach boat building. Boys played with simple bark models, exploring the skills needed to become expert mariners. Other models were carefully scaled versions of full-sized crafts, covered with skin and outfitted with hunting gear.

Painted box panel showing people traveling in qayaqs and angyaqs - open skin boats, ca. A.D. 1400 – 1750. Koniag, Inc. Collection, Karluk One site, AM48.

Beyond the Water

Qayaqs were also part of spiritual life. People hung boats from the ceilings of ceremonial houses for winter festivals, painted qayaq images, and used model boats in rituals. Shamans forecasted the weather with models boat, placing miniature qayaqs in the water to predict boating conditions and hunting success. For luck, whalers acted out hunts with qayaq model. When a hunter died, his kayak might be placed over his grave.

On Board

A model qayaq with a set of gear. Gift of Elvina Hogan.	Equipped to Hunt Every qayaqer carried a set of hunting tools on the deck of his boat. These included a harpoon, a bow, an arrow-filled quiver, a club, a spare paddle, and a killing lance - all secured to a gunwale board. Paddlers were careful not to tie too much gear to the outside of their boats, as it could make them tippy.
Bone dart heads, Afognak Native Corporation Collection, Igvak Site Spool and Awl. Koniag, Inc. Collection, Karluk One.	Inside the Boat Alutiiq men filled their kayaks with survival gear - containers of fresh food and water, animal hide blankets, and inflated seal bladders for emergency floatation. Each hunter also carried a skin bag with small necessities - harpoons and arrowheads to equip hunting tools; needles, sinew, and skin to patch qayaq covers; and in the historic era, ammunition and tobacco. Grass mats or skin pads provided a cushion for the paddler who knelt inside his boat.
Green Pebble, Afognak Native Corporation Collection, Settlement Point	Spiritual Assistance Qayaqers carried special helping amulets to the inside of their boats. Lashed near the cockpit where they could be seen, these were often animal skulls filed with eagle down and red paint. Some hunters also carried green pebbles. These charms were thought to illuminate the water and attract game. Green – cungagtuq - was the color of the supernatural world and associated with the sea. A story from Afognak Island tells of a whaler who found a glowing green stone. He killed many whales while he kept the stone. Then he fell in love, got married, and lost the stone. His ability to kill vanished, and he and his wife died soon afterwards.
Paddle fragment, ca. AD 1400 – 1750, Koniag, Inc. Collection, Karluk One site, AM465	Paddles Different Alaskan peoples used different styles of qayaq of paddles, matching their equipment to water conditions and activities. Kodiak Islanders preferred a narrow, single-bladed paddle that allowed deep, stabilizing strokes in rough water. Like qayaqs, paddles were made to fit their users. In addition to paddling, men used their paddles to find sea mammals by placing the handle against their teeth to feel vibrations in the water.
Qayaqers in gutskin rain gear. Photo courtesy the National Archive Albatross Collection	Rain Gear Waterproof clothing was an essential for every qayaqer. Alutiiqs wore kanagluk - rain jackets fashioned from animal gut. The bottom of each jacket had a wide opening and a drawstring. The paddler climbed in his boat and tied the bottom of his jacket around the opening of his qayaq. This prevented water from getting in the boat and warm air from leaving.

The Frame

Built for Flexibility

“. . . the Cadiak men deserve great credit for the invention of the bidarka [qayaq], which is . . . very fast, and are safer at sea in bad weather than European boats . . . At first I disliked these leathern canoes on account of their bending elasticity in the water, arising from their being slenderly built; but when accustomed to them, I though it rather pleasant . . .”

Uri Lisianski, 1814

Model qayaq frame by Alfred Naumoff. Purchased with fudning from the Rasmuson Foundation.

A hallmark of Alutiiq qayaqs is their flexibility. Made from natural materials – pegged, lashed, and sewn together – qayaqs were light, bendable, and stable. Flexibility kept them from breaking in rough seas or when landing. It also allowed qayaqers to tip without capsizing.
Naturally curved spruce crooks were a favored material for boat building.	The Right Wood It took months to collect the wood for a qayaq frame, and different parts of the skeleton required different types of wood. Craftsmen preferred dense, water resistant spruce for bow, stern, and deck pieces. For stringers, ribs, and gunwales, they chose elastic woods with straight grains and few knots, like hemlock and alder. “It was certain alders that my dad used, nice straight ones with no knots on them. He shaved the knots off by biting them; then he made them round.” Larry Matfay, Late Kodiak Alutiiq Elder
Measurements for a three-hatched qayaq, courtesy Bobby Stamp	Measuring Although a community participated in building a boat, each qayaq fit the proportions of its owner based on measurements of his body. Alutiiq men used their arms, hands, and fingers to determine the appropriate size of each frame piece as well as the placement of pieces within the boat.
Qayaq model by Alfred Naumoff, lashed with artificial Sinew. Purhcased with funding from the Rasmuson Foundation.	Putting it Together Alutiiq men used a variety of materials to tie their qayaq frames together. In prehistoric times, craftsmen used strips of sea mammal skin and baleen. More recently, they choose cotton and nylon twine. These materials allowed the frame to bend. One item you wont find on an Alutiiq boat – nails. Nails make the frame too stiff. They can also rub dangerous holes in a boat’s skin cover.
Larry Matfay holds his grandfather's qayaq prow.	Bow Design “It helps when you’re out there in the rough water. It definitely works. I don’t know whose idea it was, but you would have to be very smart to figure that out.” Nick Tanape, Sr., Nanawalek, Alaska One of the most distinctive elements of the Alutiiq qayaq is its split, upturned prow. This part of the qayaq has two functions. The lower curved part is slightly hollowed on the sides, helping the boat cut through the water. The tall upper part provides buoyancy, helping the boat to float as it encounters waves. According to an Alutiiq story, the first man and women who entered the world, paddled between two cliffs. When the cliffs closed in on their boat, they broke one end, creating the curved prow that has since characterized Alutiiq qayaqs.

The Cover

Sven Haakanson cleans a harbor seal skin. Slate ulu with wooden handle, for scraping, ca. AD 1400-1750, Koniag, Inc. Collection, Karluk One	Covered to Protect A qayaq’s cover provided protection for the hunter inside. This thin layer of animal skin kept water out and created a smooth surface for the boat to slip though the water. It had to be made with great precision and carefully maintained. While men carved qayaq frames, women created their covers. A Skin of Skins Every qayaq required a quantity of sea mammal skins. Alutiiqs used both seal and sea lion skins to cover boats. A hunter preparing to cover a boat would collect skin and age each one to remove the hair. After scraping the fresh hide clean, he would roll it with a layer of moss and set it aside. This process loosened the hair, which was scraped off. Then the skins were allowed to dry. When it was time to create a boat cover, women soaked the skins in water to moisten them for cutting and sewing.

A piece of sea mammal hide with waterproof stitching from Barrow, Alaska.	Cutting & Stitching Women laid skins over the qayaq frame, positioning them to form a cover. Each skin was marked and then cut to shape. With the cut pieces, sewing could begin.Special stitches insured that no water leaked through a boat’s seams. Women sewed through a layer of the skin, not its entire thickness, and each seam had a grass lining to absorb moisture. It took at least a week to stitch a qayaq cover. Knowledgeable woman supervised those with less experience, checking their work carefully as poor sewing could cost a hunter his life. When the cover was complete, men pulled it over the frame, sometimes using seaweed to help the cover slide on.
A seal stomach container for storing oil. Matfay Collection.	Oiling To waterproof the skin covering, each qayaq was filled with seal oil. The finished boat was set on a rack and oil poured in it to saturate the skins. Boat seams were also caulked with a sticky, water repellent mixture of moss and seal oil.
Sketch of an Alutiiq home with a qayaq rack. From Jackson.	Qayaq Care Hunting and fishing dirtied a man’s qayaq. After each trip, he washed the blood, fish slime, and dirt from his boat with salt water. When the boat dried, he applied a fresh layer of protective seal oil. Once a year, he submerged his boat in water to soften the cover for thorough cleaning and repairs. In the summer, men kept their qayaqs on outdoor racks. In the winter, they hung them from the ceilings of their houses. This protected boats from dogs and mice that liked to chew on the covers.
Aleutian islander preparing their qayaqs for winter 1909-1910. From Jochelson.	Recycling the Cover Qayaq covers lasted just 3 to 5 years. When a cover began to darken or crack, it was no longer safe. Boat owners cut old covers off and used them to create a lining for the bottom of their qayaqs – to protect the frame and provide a place for kneeling. Other uses for old boat skins included wrapping the dead for burial.