Rick wrote:

Designs used by native tribesman had
no such design features and tended to be narrow, have hard chines, be 18+
feet long, and be very low in the water. Some had bifurcated hulls (which
seemed to keep the bow low in the water to avoid wind effects - as described
in the National Geo. presentation, "Baidarka"). None of these designs had
skegs because the hulls were designed for very harsh conditions and the skeg
would have added no performance advantage to the boat.

This is untrue. Skegs are actually very common on Greenlandic kayaks. They are
commonly either built into the hull by pulling the keel stringer into a hollow a
few feet forward of the stern, or of the strap on variety that is lashed to the
hull. I don't recall of seeing a skeg on a baidarka, but the Aleut may well have
used them, too.

--
Regards

Brian