tour 8 of 8
Kayak clothing from Greenland
Kayak jacket of neoprene (tuiliusaq)
'Those of neoprene, - they are
waterproof, they are fine. And also, we cannot go on using sealskin
tuiliks and so on. They
are just far too expensive. And I think if we can get
tuiliks that are good -
and not smelling of seal fat - we should use them.' (Member
of the Kayak Club Nuuk,
1999)
The idea of making
kayak clothing following traditional patterns, but of a new
material, neoprene, was developed in about 1992-93 by a member of
the Kayak Club Nuuk and a Canadian. They contacted Brooks Wetsuits,
a business in Vancouver, who manufactured a kayak jacket in
neoprene following instructions from
Nuuk.
Although sceptical at
first, when the members of the club tried out the first neoprene
jacket in spring 1994, they found it to be very good, and several
garments were commissioned , both by the club and for individual
members. The idea caught on and today neoprene jackets (called
tuiliusaq) are used in
kayak clubs all along the west coast of
Greenland.
This example,
made by Brooks Wetsuits, is one of the first of its kind. It was
used by Jenseeraq Amondsen from Nuuk for practising Eskimo rolls,
and for kayaking particularly in
winter.
Other
Views: Kununnguaq Davidsen from Sisimiut
wears a tuiliusaq) for
demonstrating Eskimo rolls. Nanortalik, July
2001.