In Memoriam
It is with great sadness that we have to tell you that John Heath passed away July 14, 2003. He was 80 years old and had many medical problems that just kept accumulating.
For those who have not heard of John Heath,
here is a short biography. He became convinced in the mid 1950s that the
inventors of the kayak were being ignored by the Americans and Europeans who
were starting to become interested in kayaking. In 1956, few would listen. It
was pretty lonely. He began a lifelong study of the Inuit, their kayaks and how
and why they used them. In the 1960s, he was able to extensively interview,
over several years, some of the last generation of Alaskan Inuit that had used
kayaks as they were intended. His trips to Greenland allowed him to interview
some of the last of the old seal catchers and measure. The Inuit had developed
kayaks over thousands of years, to hunt, fish and just to survive in one of the
harshest places on Earth.
Modern kayakers were re-inventing kayaks for recreation and many “early” (i.e.
1950s) designs were not well thought-out. If the Inuit built a badly designed
boat, the hunter might die and his family might starve.
Likewise, if the Inuit did not know how to safely operate these tiny craft in
some of the stormiest oceans on the planet, they died. There is still so much
that we can learn from them. (For a vivid example of a survival storm in Greenland, see pages 103 to 105 of John's book, which is for sale below.) John worked hard
most of his life to get recreational kayakers to include Inuit technology in
the design and operation of this “new” craft. He wrote numerous articles in American
White Water and Sea Kayaker magazine and worked
throughout his life to preserve knowledge of the traditional designs and
techniques used by arctic kayakers.
I am quite aware that John was not the first or the only person trying, but I
feel that he was a very important one. In recent years a blossoming interest in
Greenland style kayaking is an unintentional tribute to John’s hard work. More
and more very bright people are fascinated the collective genius that has come
before. They are carrying the torch now. Doing the study, the training, and
spreading the word. But, I think John would say, “Don’t ignore the other Arctic
kayaks. From Greenland to Siberia, every local design had a purpose and we can
learn from them. Let’s reach to new heights by standing on the shoulders of the
giants that came before.”
He has a lot of friends and we are very grateful for all of the support and kind thoughts that we are receiving. There is so much to do right now that we have not been able to speak with everyone that we want to about his passing. Please help us spread the word and please forgive us if you did not first hear this from our lips.
In his lifetime, John did many things. One of those things was to work hard to let the world of recreational kayakers know of the importance of the thousands of years of “traditional” kayak technology development. Forty years ago, John and many of us were surprised that the idea was so slow to catch on. After all, a kayak design flaw could easily mean a man’s death. A man’s death could mean starvation to his family. Millions of hours of thought went into kayak development. Any kayaker can learn from their work.
Well, the idea finally started to catch on. He was very grateful for the growing interest and all of the support. Thank you.
He was co-authoring a book with Dr. Eugene Arima, about Inuit kayaks and rolling techniques. It will be called Eastern Arctic Kayaks. The University of Alaska hopes to have it in print around late November 2004. Between the countless changes in our lives due to John's passing and last minute things related to the book, we are VERY busy. We will keep you posted.
John asked that people not send flowers.
One of Johns other great loves was helping animals in distress. The thing that would make John the happiest would be to: help a lost dog or any animal in distress, to get your pets at the pound, because they are killed in a few days if not adopted, support you local animal shelter and that sort of thing.
If you desire, contributions may be made to:
Wildlife Rehab & Education
PMB 340
2476 Bolsover
Houston, TX 77005-2518
or to any animal shelter.
All help and support is very welcome. Kind e-mails are welcome, but we may be slow to answer. However, video shipments are going out on time.
Signed,
Jessie Heath, (John’s wife)
David Heath, (John’s son)
July 2003