This&That
“It began as a sport, now it’s our lifestyle!”
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www.aquafusion.com
It was 100 years ago that Alfred Heurich got crafty in his workshop in Munich, Germany, and stretched some waterproof sailcloth around a collapsible bamboo kayak frame. He called his model the Dolphin, and while he didn’t have the manufactur- ing savvy to produce it in large num- bers, he soon hooked up with a local tailor named Johann Klepper and the modern age of kayaking was born. Despite the boom kayaking has enjoyed since the 1970s when the mass-production of rigid-hulled boats began, the sport is still on the fringe compared to its popularity during the first half of last century. European trains, top-heavy from all the folding kayaks stuffed in the overhead compartments, would deliver thousands to crowded alpine lakes.
The basic skin-on-frame design of folding kayaks, first developed in non-collapsible form more than 4,000 years ago by the Inuit, hasn’t changed much since Heurich’s Dolphin, but the materials used have caught up to the space age. High per- formance modern models by manu- facturers such as Feathercraft, Klepper and Folbot feature alu- minum or polycarbonate ribs and Hypalon or polyethylene hulls, cre- ating flexible, stable, easily assem- bled crafts that impress all but the most rigid-minded paddlers. The few but passionate fans of folding kayaks are proud of their his- toric legacy, and are now benefiting from the technology of tomorrow.
A Century of Stretched Skin
FOLDING KAYAKS TURN 100 by Ian Merringer
September 9–11, 2005 Port Townsend, WA
Register on-line at:
www.wcsks.org
NORTH AMERICA’S PREMIER ON-WATER PADDLING EVENT!
West Coast Sea Kayak Symposium is a Trade Association of Paddlesports (TAPS) event. 12 // Fall 2005
ADVENTURE kayak’s
2005 EVENT SCHEDULE August 14
Androscoggin Hand Powered Regatta Brunswick, ME
www.brunswickrotary.org/regat- ta2005
August 16 Paddlepalooza Seaside Heights, NJ.
www.vikingpromotions.com
August 27, 2005 State of Maine Flatwater
Championship Race Augusta, ME
www.mackro.org
September 9–11 West Coast Sea Kayak Symposium Port Townsend, WA
www.wcsks.org
September 9–11 Ottawa Valley Rendezvous Deep River, ON
www.ottawavalleyrendezvous.ca
Sponsored by September 10, 11
1,000 Islands Sea Kayak Festival Ganonoque, ON
www.1000ikf.com
September 11–16 Le Tour Bleu
Madeleine Islands, QC
www.rendezvousaventure.com
*September 24–25 Canada West Paddle Surf Fest Tofino, BC
www.surfkayak.org
September 25 MEC Paddlefest Toronto, ON
www.mec.ca
September 30–October 2 Surfing Superior Surf Kayak Confluence Wawa, ON
www.naturallysuperior.com/surfing- superior.htm
Go to
www.adventurekayakmag.com for 2005 event schedule updates
Photo DAVE QUINN
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