Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Canoes at Semiahmoo


Figurehead, traditional Coast Salish canoe


T'wis?a. Does that mean "the loon"?


Notched prow of a sea-going canoe.

Seen at the wind-up of the annual Salish Sea Journey, hosted by the Semiahmoo Nation. More on the design and construction of these canoes, at Ocean Explorer.

3 comments:

  1. Those canoes are absolutely stunning. I like the subtlety of the loon, but the others are such powerful designs.

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  2. I agree - absolutely stunning. It boggles my mind that these actually are sea worthy. It would take a lot to make me put out to sea in something that small!

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  3. Clytie, they're definitely sea-worthy. Somewhere in my ancient black and white photos I have one of a few men in a similar canoe, without the ceremonial paint, standing to receive a sack of something - flour, potatoes, oatmeal? - from a larger boat. In a heavy swell.

    The coastal peoples used to go whaling in boats like these. Although I wonder how many of them drowned per whale.

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I'm having to moderate all comments because Blogger seems to have a problem notifying me. Sorry about that. I will review them several times daily, though, until this issue is fixed.

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