The umiak, umialak, umiaq, umiac, oomiac, oomiak, ongiuk, or anyak Dall, p. 563 is a type of open skin boat, used by the Yupik peoples and Inuit, and was originally found in all coastal areas from Siberia to Greenland.
First used in Thule people times, it has traditionally been used in summer, for moving people and possessions to seasonal hunting grounds, and for hunting and walrus. Umiaks at the Canadian Museum of Civilization Although the umiak was usually propelled by oars (women) or paddles (men), sails—sometimes made from seal —were also used, and, in the 20th century, . Adney & Chappelle p.190 Adney & Chappelle p.179 Because the umiak has no keel, the sails cannot be used for tacking.
The open umiak is significantly larger than the enclosed kayak, which was built to carry one or two men while hunting. Normally , the umiak could be anywhere from long and wide. Umiak at the Canadian Encyclopedia Examples of Umiaks, Museum of Civilization website Hans Egede, a Norwegian-Danish Lutheran missionary to Greenland in 1721, stated that he had seen umiaks long.
Although an umiak could carry up to 15 passengers, its light weight and lack of a keel allows it to be carried over the Drift ice or Fast ice to the open water by a few people. The Women's Boat at athropolis.com
A modern company which trains people to hand make umiaks says that a boat weighs about compared to for a modern vessel. The Umiak at Skinboat School
The skin cover on an umiak will last for two or three years, as does an Aluminium boat used in the same way; however, replacing the skin on an umiak is much easier than repairing an aluminum boat. Additionally, the bowhead whale is sensitive to the metallic noise from aluminum boats, and tend to move away under the ice, to avoid them.
In Utqiaġvik, Alaska, the process for replacing the skin of an umiak 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 Reindeer.
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.
In the Eastern Arctic, where the umiak was rarely used for hunting, it was used mainly as summer transport for women and children, while men travelled by kayak, and thus was known as a "woman's boat".
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