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The
Brielle Kayak
One of the kayaks in Nooter's study is the Brielle (pronounced
"BREE-luh"), named after the city in whose town-hall
attic it had been until 1883. It is now in the collection of the
Rijksmuseum voor Volkerkunde, in Leiden. Nooter writes, "…it
is evident that the kayak had been in the attic in Brielle for
many years, but no documents have been found indicating just how
long this was." He notes that Brielle was not a prominent
whaling town.
In
1998, I visited the Rijksmuseum to study and survey the Brielle
kayak. Its condition was poor. The hull was slightly collapsed,
and the keel was no longer straight, appearing as if it had been
suspended from the ends while heeled 90 degrees. Despite its state,
the kayak's form restored very well on paper. Areas in good condition
were used to fair collapsed areas of the hull, and the yawing
curve was eliminated to restore the kayak's symmetry.
The
Brielle kayak is a very narrow kayak with distinctly long, raked
ends—particularly the stern. The beam is 15 1/4" and
the length is 17' 11 1/8", making it very extreme in terms
of length-to-width ratios. The hull shape is very boxy—nearly
vertical slab—sides and a flat bottom. Its cross-section
shape is often equated with great stability, although just how
stable can a 15 1/4"-wide kayak be?
21st-century
replica of the 17th-century Brielle kayak - photo Copyright Edith
Casterline
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