Umiak

The umiak, umiaq, umiac, oomiac or oomiak is a type of boat used by Eskimo people, both Yupik and Inuit, and was originally found in all coastal areas from Siberia to Greenland. Its name means "woman\'s boat," as opposed to the kayak, which means "man\'s boat".

Umiak in Barrow, Alaska

Like the kayak, the umiak is traditionally made from a driftwood frame pegged and/or lashed together, over which walrus (in western Alaska) or bearded seal skins are stretched.

Umiak wood frame in Barrow, Alaska

The open umiak is significantly larger than the enclosed kayak which was built to carry one or two men while hunting. A large umiak could hold more than 20 people in its 6 metres (20 ft) to 10 m (33 ft) frame, with about seven skins needed for a boat of 30 ft (9.1 m). It was traditionally used in summer to move people and possessions to seasonal hunting grounds and for hunting whales and walrus.

While the kayak ceased being used in the early 1960s, the umiak skin boat is still very much a part of life in the Yupik and Inupiat Eskimo whaling villages of Alaska. It is still far superior to modern aluminum boats for spring whaling. The boat must be hauled on a sled pulled by snowmobile over very rough trails cut through the ice ridges. After surviving that, the boat is used to catch whales in the open leads of the ice pack.

The skin cover on an umiak lasts for about two or three years, and ironically so does an aluminum boat used in the same way.

Closer look at the seams

However, replacing the seal skin on an umiaq is much easier than repairing an aluminum boat. Additionally, Bowhead Whales are sensitive to the metalic noise from aluminum boats, and tend to move away, under the ice, to avoid them.

A very close look at stitching from the outside

The wood frame for an umiak lasts for many years, but every two or three years the skins must be replaced. In Barrow, Alaska that process actually begins when the ice moves away from the shores of the Arctic Ocean in July. At their first summer access to the ocean, whaling crews hunt for oogruk, the Bearded Seal, for suitable skins. The skins are packed into seal oil, and allowed to ferment while they are stored until March. At that time the skins are scraped free of hair, sewn together with a waterproof stitch, and then stretched over the wooden frame and tied into place using the sinew from caribou.

Inupiat men race in umiaks. Nome, Alaska, 1915.

With a new skin on the frame, the umiak is placed out in the wind and cold, to dry. In May when the Bowhead Whales migrate eastward past Point Barrow, umiak skin boats are hauled on sleds pulled by snowmobiles out onto the ice.

See also

• Sea kayak
• Baidarka
• List of English words containing Q not followed by U

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Umiaks

• Civilization.ca (images of umiaks)
• Skin boat School
• Crew407
• Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission

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