This type of kayak was introduced to England and Europe by John MacGregor (sportsman) in 1860, but Klepper was the first person to mass-produce these boats made of collapsible wooden frames covered by waterproof rubberized canvas.
The use of fabric kayaks on wooden frames called a foldboat or folding kayak (German faltboot or Hardernkahn) became widely popular in Europe beginning in 1907 when they were mass-produced by Johannes Klepper and others.
In June 1928, a German named Franz Romer Sea kayak rigged his long foldboat with a sail and departed from Las Palmas in the Canary Islands carrying of tinned food and of water.
By 1929, Klepper and Company were making 90 foldboats a day.
Lang won the doubles foldboat event with her partner, Alexander "Zee" Grant. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, Alexander “Zee” Grant was most likely America's best foldboat pilot.
As with nearly all American foldboat enthusiasts of the day, he did not know how to roll his boat. Fiberglass mixed with resin composites, invented in the 1930s and 40s, were soon used to make kayaks and this type of watercraft saw increased use during the 1950s, including in the US.
Grant kayaked the Gates of Lodore on the Green River (Colorado River tributary) in Dinosaur National Monument in 1939 and the Middle Fork Salmon River in 1940.
Another German, Oskar Speck, paddled his foldboat down the Danube and four years later reached the Australian coast after having traveled roughly 14,000 miles across the Pacific. These watercraft were brought to the United States and used competitively in 1940 at the first National Whitewater Championship held in America near Middledam, Maine, on the Rapid River (Maine).
Lang won the doubles foldboat event with her partner, Alexander "Zee" Grant. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, Alexander “Zee” Grant was most likely America's best foldboat pilot.
Grant kayaked the Gates of Lodore on the Green River (Colorado River tributary) in Dinosaur National Monument in 1939 and the Middle Fork Salmon River in 1940.
In 1941, Grant paddled a foldboat through Grand Canyon National Park.
As with nearly all American foldboat enthusiasts of the day, he did not know how to roll his boat. Fiberglass mixed with resin composites, invented in the 1930s and 40s, were soon used to make kayaks and this type of watercraft saw increased use during the 1950s, including in the US.
Kayak Slalom World Champion Walter Kirschbaum built a fiberglass kayak and paddled it through Grand Canyon in June 1960.
Like Grant's foldboat, Kirschbaum's fiberglass kayak had no seat and no thigh braces. Inflatable rubberized fabric boats were first introduced in Europe and rotomolded plastic kayaks first appeared in 1973.
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Page generated on 2021-08-05