Qajaq. Greenland kayaks are believed to be around 4,000 years old. The main purpose of traditional Greenlandic kayaks was hunting. It was often called an extension of the hunter’s body, which enabled him to silently approach his prey with a harpoon. Possible the oldest museum example, that I found in ‘Kayaks of Greenland’ book by Harvey Golden, dates back to circa pre 1607. (Schiffergesellschaft, Lubeck)

Once upon a time in Greenland

These people were excellent paddlers and knew many ways to roll a kayak, or return to the surface in the event of capsizing, regardless of the position they were in at the time of capsizing.
The ‘Tuilik’ or suit they used was made of animal skin and was waterproof around the hands and head, and was attached to the coaming. During warmer months they used ‘Akuilisaq’ (very similar to a modern spray skirt). Getting out of the kayak in the event of capsizing was not an option, because without a dry suits, even in summer sea temperatures of only a few degrees, it meant hypothermia and death.
They lived exclusively from hunting, so having a kayak was a status symbol in society; anyone who didn’t know how to make one didn’t hunt, didn’t have a family… in short, the kayak meant life to them. Because of this and because of the development of these boats through thousands of years, these are probably the main reasons why they brought these vessels to perfection — to hunt and survive in rough sea conditions.

These kayaks were developed depending on which part of Greenland we are talking about, so there are kayaks from West, South, East and Polar Greenland. Different sea conditions and probably different ways of hunting led to the development of different types of these kayaks. They were mostly small in volume, shallow, long, and narrow, so the ‘freeboard’ or the part above the waterline was quite low. This was important for them because they were much less affected by the wind (one of the reasons why the increase in volume also led to the use of a rudder in more modern touring kayaks), they needed less visibility for hunting, and rolling was much easier.

It goes without saying that they were top craftsmen because they made kayaks with a few tools, driftwood and seal skin.

Greenlandic kayaks today

Nowadays, hunting is done with more modern vessels, and the kayak has remained a symbol of Greenlandic identity, along with traditional games of rolling, throwing harpoons from kayaks…
Besides this, because of their smaller volume, they are very nice crafts for one-day trips, although with today’s modern equipment that is getting smaller and smaller, it’s possible to do even multi-day trips.
It will paddle great on the sea, river, or lake, but they are not for whitewater.