18
| Otoño Autumn 2018
bizkaia
El kayak, del Ártico al Golfo de Bizkaia
H
oy, los vascos son campeones del mundo en el manejo de una embarcación que inventaron los esquimales. A pesar de que los kayaks de competición poco tienen que ver en materiales y diseño con los que manejaban los inuit.
La palabra ‘kayak’ significa ‘bote-de-hombre’ o ‘pedazo de madera flotante’ puesto que se construía a la medida del palista. En su origen, en el Ártico, el kayak fue concebido originalmente como un bote unipersonal consistente en una armazón de madera revestido de pieles. Su antigüedad data de hace al menos 4000 años. Los esquimales crearon también prendas específicas para esta actividad, como el anorak o el denominado ‘cubrebañeras’, que en su caso sólo dejaba al descubierto la cara del palista. Actualmente, las y los mejores palistas del mundo se encuentran en Euskadi. Quizá uno esté paseando en la playa junto a usted, con su embarcación al hombro.
As they were made to measure to fit the size of the paddler, the word ‘kayak’ means ‘man’s boat’ or ‘piece of floating wood’ in a world championship for the first time in Scotland in 1997, with modest results. Since then, they have been training hard, improving technique and work methods, getting more competition experience and stunning the Irish, Welsh, Scottish and Americans at world events year after year with the progress they’ve made. The turning point came in 2007 when the world championship was hosted in Bakio and Mundaka (Bizkaia) and the Basque team came out on top, winning again in the US in 2011, in Australia 2013 and Galicia (Spain) in 2015. They were also runners-up in Portugal. They earned their fifth international title at Portrush in Northern Ireland this year. Out of the sixteen rounds they competed in, they came first in eight and second in five, leaving them five points from England. The Basques reaped 13 medals in the individual finals. The two golds were won by Ainhoa Tolosa in the women’s category and Hodei Crujeiras in the juniors. The other team members, who are all natives of the Basque provinces of Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa, were Irati Bordagarai, Olatz Garmendia, Enara Ibarburu, Txema Carreto, Oskar Martínez, Luis Abando, Xabi Olano, Gorka Martín, Edu Etxeberria, Oier Etxeberria and Oier Uruburu,.
The kayak, from the Arctic to the Bay of Biscay
T
he Basques are currently world champions at handling a vessel that was invented by the Eskimos, although it’s true that the design and materials used for building competition kayaks have very little in common with the kayaks used by the Inuit people.
As they were made to measure to fit the size of the paddler, the word “kayak” means “man’s boat” or “piece of floating wood”. The original Arctic kayak consisted of a wooden hull covered with animal hide. They date back to at least 4000 years ago. The Eskimos were also responsible for designing different equipment for use in the kayak, such as the anorak, and the spray skirt which covers the hatch from the waist nowadays but which originally reached the kayaker’s neck, leaving only his head exposed to the elements. Currently, the kayak surf world champions can be found in the Basque Country, so if you’re on the beach, you might come across one carrying a kayak on their shoulder.
The venue for the next world championship is Peru. “Every year, it’s getting harder to win, but we’ll give it our best shot”, they said.