Oomiak

I am a boating enthusiast (some would say nut) and I enjoy looking at and learning about all types of boats.  Recently I traveled to the community of Gambel for work and while I was there I had a chance to look at some of the skin boats that they use there.  

Gambel is located on St Lawrence Island, way out in the middle of the Bering sea.  Gambel is one of the villages in this area that actively hunts bow head whales.  I think that a lot of the hunting is now done from modern aluminum (Lund) boats, but there appears to still be a few traditional oomiaks being used.

All of the boats that I looked at were constructed the same and were basically the same size.  About 24' long, 6' wide, and 3' deep. The keel timber measures about 3"x6" with a separate 2"x2" piece that goes on after the skin. The ribs are 1"x1" and the longitudinals are 3/4"x1 1/2". There is one clench nail at each intersection. The ribs are mortised into the gunwale piece, which measures about 2"x3". The ribs are made in halves and overlap slightly at the keel.

 

All the boats have a motor well in the same location, to one side of the keel about 5' from the stern.  A small outboard motor can put dropped into this well.  The outboard is used for traveling to and from the hunting area.  When hunting they try to be as quiet as possible and they use a simple sail for propulsion.   The sailing rig uses a wooden mast about 4" in diameter and 20' long.  The mast is supported by a hinged mast partner that allows the mast to be slipped into place horizontally and then stood up.

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This boats are what I would call "modern" oomiaks.  These boats use metal fittings and a few other manufactured parts.  Traditional boats would all be lashed together without any screws or nails.  Many of the boats still have a covering made from split walrus or bearded seal skin.  Some of the boats are covered with some kind of synthetic material (nylon, etc) covered with a few coats of thick paint.

C.O.

Guatemala the Return: Part 2

I hopping in and out of current and past experiences in blog land here, it makes me feel like a fancy best selling author or something. Anyway, we spent the first two weeks of our Guatemala trip in Antigua studying Spanish. The final week we spent aboard, "Las Sirenas", a 40 foot catamaran sailboat.

"Las Sirenas" from the land

On deck of "Las Sirenas"

We cruised for a couple days on the Rio Dulce River followed by some time on the Belize Barrier Reef and Islands. Along the reef was where Harold and I first experienced snorkeling, C.O. having previous experience on a family trip to Hawaii. It took a little while to get Harold to warm up to the whole experience, but once he figured out what to do we could hardly drag him out of the water.

Our time aboard the boat wasn't perfect, we were a bit sea sick, terribly hot, at one point I had an allergic reaction to conch and C.O. accidentally touched a fish that made it feel like shards of glass were stuck in his hand. But we survived and lived to tell of another adventure. 

~AnnMarie

Sailing

Harold spent some time with me in the workshop this past weekend. We built a little sailboat and sailed it in the lagoon behind our house.
C.O.