March 5, 2003

Kevin Parmenter shares Inuit culture with students

Acme resident demonstrates Inuit kayak techniques with Old Mission Elementary School

By Carol South
Herald contributing writer

Kevin Parmenter is on a mission: learn as much as he can about the Inuit culture and share it with as many people as he can.
The Acme resident became captivated two years ago with the elemental struggles of everyday life of the Inuits - how they persevered in their stark surroundings to find peace and even joy.

Herald photo
Kevin Parmenter of Acme shares Inuit culture, hunting techniques and philosp=ophy with students at Old Mission Elementary School Tuesday morning.

"A hunting party of ten men would go out and all of the ten knew that only seven were coming home," said Parmenter, a carpenter and boat builder who began kayaking two years ago. "It is amazing how well they survived and still celebrated what life they had. That's one of the things I want to share is a deep appreciation for the culture they had."
Monday morning, Parmenter brought two of his Inuit kayaks - one completed and one a work in progress to Old Mission Elementary School. During the presentation, he also showed Inuit tools and clothes he has made and discussed the basics of arctic survival. For over an hour, he held students in the fifth, second and kindergarten grades spellbound and sparked countless questions.
"This is really hands on for the students, he actually lets them get into the kayaks," said Tricia Schneider, a fifth- grade teacher at the school, noting he had visited with sixth-grade students the previous week. "For them to have that experience instead of just looking at it is great."
Parmenter discussed how the Inuits made their kayaks from sealskin, drift wood and seal muscle fibers. With no power tools and little metal, they Inuits made do with what they could find or create.
"The Inuits were master tool makers, their tools were incredible," he noted. "They were able to make good use of whatever metals or stone they had."
The boat's cockpit fit the hunter like a second skin with each boat custom-fit so the boat and the paddler's legs were one. The paddler wore a sealskin suit to seal himself into the cockpit. This suit kept both the paddler and boat dry in waves or during rolls under the water.
The famous kayak rolls were a survival necessity developed by Inuit hunters to compensate for their narrow boats, ocean waves and encounters with animals they hunted. With water temperatures around 30 degrees Fahrenheit during summer months, even brief exposure to water was fatal.
"They had very sophisticated maneuvers so if they rolled the boat they could get back up," Parmenter said. "You can roll the boat with just your bare hands."
The kayak was designed and built for silence so a hunter could sneak up on seals, walruses or whales and get within harpoon distance. Parmenter also demonstrated the use of a harpoon and a float bag used to keep the speared prey from sinking.
He also discussed the many dangers hunters faced when wrestling with a harpooned prey, such as broken backs, tangled lines or paddle loss. These were all circumstances that meant death.
"Another reason kayak hunting was so dangerous was the animal was fighting for its life," he said. "Sometimes seals would come out of the water and attack the kayaker with their sharp claws or if they slashed the boat the kayaker would die."
Parmenter also explained paddle construction and their Inuit's choice of materials for this crucial instrument. In an area where wood was scarce, Inuit boat builders scavenged wood that washed up on beaches from southern Canada or as far away as Siberia. They did not have access to glue or steel nails and instead used pegs of antler or bone to hold the paddle together
Inuit kayak paddles have a long and slender blade, referred to as a Greenland paddle. Parmenter also showed a shorter, slender-bladed paddle that Inuit hunters used on windy days.
The surface area of these Greenland paddles is the same as the better known European paddles, which have shorter, rounded blades. The paddle stroke with a Greenland paddle is smooth and simple, allowing kayakers to go great distances without tiring. The Greenland paddle was also designed so that it makes little noise while in use.
Parmenter said he has the luxury of taking along a spare paddle on his open-water excursions around the area. However, this was not possible for Inuit hunters as there was no extra room on their boat for this potentially life-saving addition.
"The paddle had to be made out of one piece of wood because if the paddle broke, a kayaker would either have to paddle home with his hands or his harpoon, or he would die," said Parmenter, noting that long arctic days allowed kayakers to paddle 45-50 miles during a hunting trip.