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Kayaking timeline

  • First recorded trip

    First recorded trip
    The Russian, Grigori Ivanovitch Langsdorff, reported from his trip around the world (1803–07) on the ease and elegance of paddling Eskimo kayaks/canoes.
  • First eskimo kayaks

    First eskimo kayaks
    The Scot, John MacGregor, came back from his North American trip full of excitement about the kayak/canoe and in 1860 started building six boats that closely resembled Eskimo canoes/kayaks, weighing app. 80 lb (36 kg).
  • Faltboot

    Faltboot
    1905, Alfred Heurich, an architectural student from Leipzig, Germany, invented the "Faltboot", a folding kayak called Folboat in the US. Heurich went on to paddle over 100,000 km (62,000 mi) on rivers and lakes.
  • kayaking

    kayaking
    Kayaking on whitewater with Folboats developed. Boaters flocked to rivers and lakes by train or bus. During that time, the Austrian, Edi Hans Pawlata reinvented the Eskimo roll.
  • Rolling

    Rolling
    Franz von Alber, and then, Klaus and Arndt von Rautenfeld, claimed to have independently developed a roll with their sea kayaks.
  • World War 2

    World War 2
    Adolf Hitler started to dissolve kayak clubs. They did not serve his plan and the impact on the sport was devastating. World War II brought the paddle sport to a total halt.