Tuliks are....Silly?

[Guest guest]

I'm a newbie and was out to a pond on the Cape this weekend. There was a paddler wearing an outfit that looked like a cross between a man-sized trash bag and tutu. It was made of neoprene and had a hood. He was rolling left and right, and even paddled his boat upside down a while. He was using a Greenland paddle.

When I asked him, he told me the outfit he was wearing is called a "tulik", which he pronounced as "too-leek." To me the get-up looked both silly but dangerous. How do you deal with all that floating skirt material when you capsize and wet-eixt. And it looked like he was awful hot.

Anyways, he said that these tuliks are the latest thing and that I should get one. I already have a neoprene wetsuit and nylon spray skirt. Should I get a tulik? What's supposed to be so great about it?

I thought the Greenland paddle he was using looked cool though! And to be able to paddle your boat upside down....even cooler.

[Guest guest]

He was a "silly" man. To say that tuiliq is the "latest" when in fact it is among the oldest kayak equipment. Oh well... just another cult follower.

sing

[Guest guest]

Perhaps a non-expert should let you in on it. Tuliqs come from the greenland tradition. These people had no dry suits and hunted in far northern waters, so, for much of the year, to come out of the boat was close to a death sentence. Indeed, some native users of the kayak were stiched into their kayaks. The tuliq is rumored to be much more comfy than a wet suit and much more bouyant, aiding balance bracing and rolling. Me, I'd love to have the skills to know I would not come out of my boat, but I'm sticking to developing those skills, and using my polartec aquashell wetsuit, supplex dry top goretex dry suit,and any other thing to make my paddling safer. As a person who questioned the use of chalk in rock climbing, (leave no trace) I can understand the aesthetics of those who reject technology and demand comittment. I always used ropes for safety though. I'm sure there are those who wear a wet or dry suit under a tuliq as well and I think that's great.

Basically if one does come out of a boat with a tuliq it would seem to be like wearing a short full skirt, not too dangerous. Tuliqs would seem to go best with small round cockpits (ala greenland pro from NDK, and many Skin On Frames (SOFs) built and paddled by our fellow nspn'ers)

There are much better qualified paddlers and historians in this club to write you on this, but here's my 2 cents

[Guest guest]

Here's traditional version:

http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/compass/...NC9092&tour=lin

Here's the "modern" approximation for whitewater paddlers:

http://catalog.mountainsurf.com/browseGrou..._group_id=31217

Seems both Greenland paddlers and hard core white water paddlers place a similar emphasis on rolling and equipment that facilitates it.

sing

[kattenbo]

Silly may be a bit of an stretch...different yes, though there is a growing minority of us "twiggers" who also wear tuiliqs on at least some occasions.

As stated by others, they do originate in the Arctic North and are particularly used in Greenland (don't know if used other places), especially in the colder months and rougher weather (Greenlanders also have what we would recognize as a "spray skirt", called an akuilisaq or tuiitsoq). And by the way, they actually did have a dry suit, but it was apparently not used as a paddling garment but was worn when flensing a whale (an activity that seemed to involve frequent immersion).

And the tuiliq makes a lot of sense in their waters (and around here in the winter as well). Keep in mind that the water temperatures around Greenland in July run about 34 degrees to 36 degress, so full body protection simply makes sense. And if you're at sea for hours, contending with very large (400-800 lbs) seals, even larger walrus and narwhales who are cranky (after all you've just stuck them with something sharp) in all weather conditions (no paddle, no eat, no light or heat), you probably want a garment that's going to provide that kind of coverage.

The long one piece garment provides an excellent seal (no pun intended) to the boat (oh yeah, no floation in the boats) excluding all water. The length of the garment provides tremendous flexibility and ease of motion, which we exploit for helping with the various capsize manuevers but have two even more practical values. First, remember these folks were out there making a living -- they carried an astonishing amount of gear on their decks that they had to be able to get to, had to be able to throw harpoons, lance wounded prey, retrieve the prey, fasten it to the boat to be towed home, etc., etc. The combined flexibility, tight seal and protection provided by the tuiliq helped with all that. Second, the long skirt actually allows the performance of what has come to be known as the "Petrussen maneuver" after the teenaged Greenlander who is most frequently associated with it. Imagine you've capsized, you can't roll up, and if you leave your boat you will die -- whaddya do? If you're wearing a tuiliq, you drop your butt out of the seat, reach up, grab you overturned hull and pull your head above water, all while maintaining the seal around the cockpit (and incidentally, your life). Sooner or later your friends come by, help you get upright and you're still in your dry boat, ready to paddle home.

By the way, that bit about staying in the boat at almost all costs -- it's kinda hard to learn to swim if the water is always close enough to freezing as to make no difference. And if you think about it, the thing on the water with you that has more floatation than anything else is your boat, might as well use it.

Nice for the Greenlanders you say, but on Cape Cod? Admittedly you kinda have to be in the Greenland mode to be intrigued by the modern tuiliq (by the way the neoprene ones by Brooks -- probably what you saw -- have their biggest market in Greenland -- cheaper and easier to maintain then sealskin). But there are a lot of advantages, particularly in colder weather. They are incredibly warm, the built in hood means never having to worry about bringing one along, they add a lot of bouyancy (so that's why we can balance brace, eh) and the additional flexibility does come in handy during rescues, and other activities. I do wear mine over my dry suit in colder weather (call me chicken of the sea), and you can wet exit and re-enter wearing one (not really any harder that with a normal skirt). And besides, worn with wrap around sunglasses and with the white hood cords hanging down your back, they look really kewl.

The 3mm neoprene Brooks gets a little warm in the summer for touring (I'll occasionally pull mine out for demos), but there are Gortex available for those who want them.

So, should you get one -- hard to say -- if you're a year round paddler and have a dry suit I'd certainly look at one. If you get into Greenland paddling and particularly into the rolling aspects of that speciality, then I'd look even harder. But first I'd beg, borrow or make a Greenland paddle -- they are even kewler.

Keith

[kattenbo]

By the way, if you want a lot of info on Greenland kayaking, try the Qajaq USA website: www.qajaqusa.org (disclosure -- I'm vice-peon, I mean vice president, of that group). Qajaq USA is the "local" US chapter of the Greenland Kayak Association, one of only two chapters outside of Greenland.

Keith

----

Still paddlin' Romanys -- the best boat on the water (for me)

Still usin' skinny sticks -- 'cause their so much fun

Still think folks should use whatever makes them smile

[christopherG]

Anyway, who the hell is "thomperman"? I think I smell a rat...

:^)

[Linda]

What pond on the Cape???

[Brian Nystrom]

...Greenlanders DID have dry suits. However, they were used for hunding whales from larger open boats (umiaks) and not in kayaks. The tuiliq and kayak function as a single unit to provide protection and floatation. Effectively, the kayak is the Greenlander's PFD. Techniques such as the Petrussen Maneuver illustrate this.

[Guest guest]

http://www.qajaqusa.org/QK/petrussen_maneu...n_Maneuver.html