4 ~- Friday, November 7, 1986 - North Shore News

Bob Hunter

@ Strictly personal ®

HERE JS a book which has been in the making for well
over a decade—going on for two decades, actually. The
long wait, | can happily report, was worth it.

Beautifully  illuscated and
elegantly written, with magnifi-
cent photography, at is George
Dyson's magnum opus on
baidarkas, an account by a dar-
ing young man of the building
and testing of a unique Aleut [n-
dian craft which had become es-
tinet just before our lifetimes,

While much attention — visual
and written — has been paid to
the haunting and romantic totem
poles of the Pacific Northwest,
no historian) seems to have
devoted anything more than a
few paragraphs here and there to
the equally amazing indigenous
sea-going vessels of the natives,
and particularly the  Aleuts,
whose modified kayaks hid no
parallel for effectiveness
anywhere in the world,

This book tells us absolutely
everything you could possibly
hope to know about a_ vessel
whose mathematical perfection
remains a thing of wonder. It
even tells us how to build one.

For centuries, in the riptide-
tortured waters along the nor-
theastern rim of the Gulf of
Alaska, the Aleuts travelled safe-
ly and swiftly, despite terrifyingly
unpredictable hurricane-force
winds called Williwaws.

Having myself once barely
survived an early winter storm on
the gulf, I am quite impressed by
any form of kayak that could do
the same.

The Russians, when they arriv-
ed to pillage the Aleutian ar-
chipelago, were equally impress-
ed. The story is all here.

But Dyson has done much
more than merely. research his
subject.

He re-created the batdarka and
then set off with a small feet of
them on an epic journey along
the rim oof the Pacific as far as
Alaska’s Glacier Bay. Th was a
voyage fraught: with danger,
especially since his crew wits us-
ing supposedly primitive vessels.

A sby, quiet mim who lives at
Beleatra Park, Dyson is a mad-
erm Thor Heyerdahl, the only
differer se being that instead of
reproducing an exact replica of
an ancient craft, he deliberately
applied high tech to a very old
Indian design and came up with a
strange and wonderful hybrid:

Like Heyerdahl, he tested his
faith in the worthiness of his boat
in the ultimate arena.

Locally, Dyson's story has on-
ly really been known to a few
people, even though he is, in
fact, World -iamous. His admirers
include such notables as author
James Michener.

Already the subject of a2
bestseller called The Starship and
The Canoe, Dyson was filmed by
a Japanese camera crew last
summer for a TV feature, based
on the book about him by Ken-
neth Brower.

The folks in Japan, however,
won't get to see the fabulous
treasure of historical material
which Dyson’s own book, just
published unveils.

We learn that the Russians on-
ly made one adaptation to the
baidarka as they found it: a third
manhole was added so the Rus-
sian taskmaster could sit in the

middle, rifle in hand, leaving his |

native Aleut servants to do all the
paddling.
Armadas of these baidarkas

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launched from the Aleutian
Islands swept as far south as San
Franciseo Bay.

Because of their effectiveness,
coupled with Russian nyuskets,
they were responsible in large
measure for othe neitely total
decinuttion of the sea otters and
the elimination of such creatures
as the Stellar sea cow,

They were afso used in whale
hunts and inter-tribai wars. One
enterprising Yankee trader took
several baidarkas, along with
their Aleut builders, as far away
as Hawati, but the small, por-
table vessels, made of sealskin,
whalebone and bladder, only rot-
ted in the tropical sun.

George Dyson's genius was to
bring the baidarkit back to hfe. Lt
had vanished along with Aleut
culture. His most ambitious
undertaking was to build a giant
baidarka, using Space Age mate-
tials, which was big enough to
carry more than a dozen people.

To date, he has constructed an
entire fect of these craft, becom-
ing in the process, thanks to his
unshakable ambition and impec-
cable craftsmanship, a true
legend in his own time.

You don't have to be into
kayaks to enjoy Bufdarka. But in
case you happen to be, this is, for
sure, the bible on the subject.

Baidarka, By George Dyson,
Alaska Northwest Publishing
Co., $23.95,

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THE CORPORATION OF TH
DISTRICT OF NORTH VANCOUVER

BYLAW 5903

HIGHWAY RELOCATION BYLAW 70
(Browning Avenue, Byron Road,
Boswell Ave., Hyannis Drive)

TAKE NOTICE THAT pursuant to section 574 ol the Municipal
Act, the Council for The Corporation of the District of North Van-
couver intends by Bylaw 5903 to dispose of certain portions of
highway in District Lots 2024, 867, and 2075 in exchange for
land mentioned in the said bylaw tor the purpose of relocating

such highway.

Bylaw 5903 and plans of the proposed highway relocation may
be inspected at the Municipal Hall during regular office hours.

(Mrs.) H.W. Egleston,

Municipal Clerk

Dated this 7th day of November, 1986
North Vancouver, B.C.

EE ae ee)

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