Message From the Editor
Welcome to the Qajaq Journal. The increasing popularity of skin on frame kayaks and native style paddling techniques in the past few years has been astonishing. The ranks of those who have abandoned their wide recreation paddles in favor of a leaner and more elegant means of propulsion seem to be growing daily. The creation of Qajaq USA, reflects this developing interest. Our primary goal as an organization is to promote the growth of Greenland style kayaking. We seek to accomplish this through our web site and forums, by sponsoring and participating in kayak symposiums as well as supporting the publication of our member newsletter The MASIK and this Journal. Qajaq was 
conceived as a venue for the publication of serious scholarship about northern native watercraft.
In my opinion, our tendency as enthusiasts has been to focus mainly on the boats and paddles while neglecting the history and the larger cultural circumstances of their creation and use. We often miss the important fact that for northern natives the kayak and Umiak existed as a means to an end and not an end in and of themselves. It is clear that hunting was the primary purpose these boats were built. I will try and include a native voice in every issue of the journal in the belief that what will result is a deeper appreciation and understand of the watercraft as well as the cultures that created them.
The Arctic is a geographically vast place with a complex history. The development and use of kayaks and umiaks played a significant part in that story. While for the most part the focus of the journal will be on kayaks I will also on occasion include articles on the other forms of watercraft that were or are in use in the North. The often neglected umiak which was in use across the Arctic, the kayak-form canoes used by sub-arctic Indians, improvised floats and motorized freight canoes, to name but a few, are all deserving of study. In future issues of Qajaq I will seek to offer our readership an interesting mix of history, technique and ethnographic accounts that will cover the wide range of watercraft used and developed by northern peoples.
Yours,
Vernon Doucette
Qajaq Journal Volume 3
Published January 2006.
Volume three is a special double-issue that contains the first English translation of Kajakmänner (Kayak-Men), originally published in 1896. This is a compilation of first person accounts of life in Greenland in the middle of the nineteenth century.
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These stories allow native authors to speak to us directly, relating tales of kayaking, traveling, and hunting, and helping us to learn a little about their lives of 150 years ago.
Contents
Letter from the Editor Vernon Doucette
A Fishing Trip Kristoffer Nielsen
Hunting Adventures Aparavigssuak
A Hazardous Mail Journey Over the Ice Casper Nielsen
My Journey as Pilot with the Americans David Danielsen
On Circumstances which Exposed me to Danger Karl Olrik
News from Kagssimiut Peter Motzfeldt
Adventures and Observations on Things I Have Experienced Petrus Lynge
On the Sinking of our Umiaq Ignatius
What Happened One Time to the Seal Hunters at Kangamiut Jens Kreuzmann
A Dream a Holsteinborger
Hard Work Pays Off Anonymous
On the Kivitut Question Hans Rasmussen
A Bear Story J.H
From Winters and Summers Past Morten Egede
Gidion Kayaitsch Tells of Katharine Robert
The Bear in the Window Opening Robert
Centerfold is an 1878 West Greenland Kayak survey by Harvey Golden (2003).
Qajaq Journal Volume 2
Published November 2004.
A tribute to John Heath and his work.
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Contents
Letter from the Editor Vernon Doucette
The Kayak of the Eskimo John D. Heath
The World's (One-time) Best Eskimo Kayakers of King Island John D. Heath
The Central Yupik Kayaks John D. Heath
Kayak Sports and Exercises H.C. Petersen
On the Peril which befell Amaeses's Son Joel About the Time He Began Fishing with Bladders Ungaralak
Grail II Revisited Eugene Arima.
Centerfold is a 1904 Point Hope Alaska kayak survey by Heath and Kappler.
Qajaq Journal Volume 1
Published July 2003.
Inaugural issue.
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Contents
Letter from the Editor Vernon Doucette
The Walrus-pull Greg Stamer and Pavia Lumholt
A historical reprint of On incorrect models and faked antiquities Morten P. Porsild
Kayak Hunting in the East Canadian Arctic as told by Uyarasuk and Piugaattuk, edited by Eugene Arima
'Grail One' and 'Grail Too' (an evaluation of two ivory skin boat models from Saint Lawrence Island, Alaska) Eugene Arima
An Annotated Bibliography of Gino Watkins, the British Arctic Air Route Expedition 1930-31 and the Pan-American Airways East Greenland Expedition 1932-33 edited by Vernon Doucette.
Centerfold is a pre 1866 West Greenland Kayak by Harvey Golden.
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