WHEN MITCH POLING offered a class on building a kayak like the Alutiiq (Aleut) used to make, people signed up for one of two reasons: Most, he said, came to learn how to do it so they could build their own light-weight craft.
Some, he said, just wanted to see how it was done.
“I took this class just because I’m curious about what the natives had to do to create them,” said Richard Vojt, a retired teacher and former Jefferson County commissioner. “It was obviously a great wintertime activity.”
What Poling builds are skin-and-frame kayaks, or baidarka, in the tradition of Chenega, the village in southeast Alaska where he grew up.
Taught craft in Alaska
Since reviving the tradition, the last examples of which were washed away in the 1964 earthquake, he has passed it along to youths in summer camps in Alaska.
He also helped Jared Fennell, a Gig Harbor High School senior, build a 25-foot canoe for the 2010 Paddle Journey.
This spring, Poling offered to teach baidarka-building free of charge at the Northwest Maritime Center. The series of workshops, which started in April, drew Chris Scheibl of Port Hadlock, who used to work at the boat haven.
“I have been familiar with the concept for quite awhile but wanted to get hands-on experience,” Scheibl said.
To get the project rolling, Poling built the gunnels and crosspieces and also carved the bow in the Chenega village tradition.
Then, he showed the class how to cut the stringers and steam-bend the U-shaped frames, and each class member went to work.
They also all learned how to lash the stringers and frames together using artificial sinew, a waxed polyester.
Last week, participants lashed the cockpit — a circular piece of cedar — and Monday lashed two bow boards over the prow to give the bow shape.
Y-lashing technique
Poling said he prefers a technique called Y-lashing because it holds things very tight, like a clamp. The lashing also has some give, which allows the craft to respond to the forces of water on the frame.
“Nothing is loose,” he said.
The next step, which started this week: stretching the “skin,” a piece of 9-ounce nylon, over the frame and sewing it on.
When coated and finished, the kayak will weigh only about 30 pounds, Poling said. It measures 141⁄2 feet long and 28 inches wide, which is wider than standard kayaks.
Poling said he modeled the class project after a replica of a canoe in the Canadian Canoe Museum, which is near Toronto, because it resembled the style used in his home waters of Prince William Sound.
“In some ways, it’s more like a canoe,” Poling said. “It’s very stable. I use it for photography; I go out and take photo of boats.”
Scheibl said he plans to build a single-person kayak like the one in the class as a birthday present for his wife, Joanna.
Darryl Hrenko, who has built several cedar-strip kayaks, said he took the class, which meets Monday and Wednesday evenings, because he wanted to learn how to build a skin boat.
Salomae Hill said she would like to build a skin-and-frame kayak but can’t do by herself so is hoping to find people who want to build their own boat but do it together.
“Mitch said he’s never built one by himself,” Hill said. “It’s more of a community event.”
Others plan to adapt the technique to a canoe.
Woody Smith and Marcy MacGregor of Port Townsend want to build a large, open canoe that will carry six to eight passengers — elders, grandchildren, the family dog — and can be rowed, sailed or paddled around the bay without anyone getting wet.
Craig Wester, a photographer by trade, also plans to build a skin-and-frame canoe using similar techniques.
“This is a little more complicated,” he said of the class kayak. “I’m not going to steam the ribs. It won’t be as aesthetic, but it will be fast to build.”
The class kayak should be finished in another four sessions or so, Poling said. Then, there will be a launch party, where each builder will have a chance to try it out. He’s also bringing kayaks he built.
“We’ll have three of them out there,” Poling said. “A fleet.”
Restoring the Eileen R
A skin-and-frame kayak that Poling built is on display at Gallery 9 in Port Townsend. It’s like the baidarkas that Maggie Fennell, Jared’s grandmother, used to go fishing and hunting in with her grandfather in the waters around Chenega, where Mitch and his family lived in the late 1940s.
While the baidarka is taking shape, another boat also is coming to life at the Northwest Maritime Center.
The Eileen R, a 15-foot lapstrake peapod, has been at the maritime center since it opened, a bequest from the builder, Kim Bush.
Bush, who taught at Port Townsend High School, lived in Port Townsend during the 1990s with spouse Judy Friesen, who worked at the Port Townsend Marine Science Center.
Named boat after mom
According to information Bush provided, he built the Eileen R on Lummi Island when he was 40 years old, naming it for his mother, Eileen Rafferty.
Then, recruiting a high school student as co-pilot, he rowed it up the inside passage to Ketchikan, Alaska.
That was more than 30 years ago.
Several years ago, Bush, who now lives on Bainbridge Island, had a stroke and ended up in a wheelchair, according to Kees Prins, boat shop manager.
Not able to row or maintain the boat, it was adopted by the center, where volunteers are restoring it, Prins said.
So far, the broken frames, which are oak, have been repaired and seats installed at both ends.
“We’re waiting for the next session to turn it over and replace the cracked planks,” Prins said.
In addition to Prins, Jason Bledsoe, Joe Arnett, Dave Naughton and Brian Mann have volunteered their time to work on the boat; other volunteers are welcome.
Both boats can be seen at the center boat shop, which is open to the public.
Once the rowboat is restored, Prins said, it will find a new home and again be rowed on local waters, which was Bush’s goal.
On the trip to Alaska, Bush reported, the Eileen R proved to be very seaworthy, even with steady southwest winds and following seas.
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Jennifer Jackson writes about Port Townsend and Jefferson County every Wednesday. To contact her with items for this column, phone 360-379-5688 or email jjackson@olypen.com.
