Canoeing is not a very familiar leisure activity to us. But, it is very easy to learn. After a 30 minute anyone can ship off in the water.
Operators of the Mulle-Gil mapped out a path on the waters of Uiamho (Lake) in Chuncheon
A PhD in engineering, Jang Mok-soon, who earned his engineering PhD in Korea went to Toronto University in 1999 as a researcher, was mesmerized by canoeing and spent his weekends going on canoe excursions at a nearby lake. He is the president of Mulle-Gil and offers his experience together with Lim Byeong-ho, CEO of Purecoism, which is a young company that loves Chuncheon, and others who made this corporation. For the past three years, they decided to make this happen and brainstormed. Later, they went to Canada and learned how to make canoes from Ted Moore, who is one of the most prominent canoe makers of Canada.
Lim, who is co-president of Mulle-Gil, has given up his weekends since long ago to help visitors gathering at their Canoe House on the weekends.
He said, “Everyone works happily. It is our joy to be able to show people this water sport using a non-powered canoe, which is also environment friendly. “We all attended school in Chuncheon so we were always highly interested in Soyangho (Lake), Uiamho (Lake), and Gongjicheon (Riv.). Canoes are common in Canada, but it cost a fortune to purchase one in Korea. So, we taught ourselves how to make a canoe.
“We took our canoe and participated in the World Leisure Games in Chuncheon, which made it possible to open the Mulle-Gil later.”
Canoes were a means of transportation for North American Indians to travel across rivers and seas, and it was also a tool for collection. Many people confuse it with the kayak. The difference is that canoes have a row only on one side, while kayaks have it on both. Also, kayaks have a cover for the boat, but canoes do not.
While kayaks are agile and dynamic, canoes are slow and leisurely.
It is said that kayaks were normally rode on by Eskimos, and it was developed into various leisure sports.
But the canoe lets the riders feel closer to the water. It can develop water leisure culture that does not destroy the environment.
Jang, Lee and the other employees’ wishes were what opened the Mulle-Gil.
The city of Chuncheon, which was interested in non-powered leisure businesses proposed the non-powered leisure sports business to Jang, and Jang gathered his friends and colleagues that were infected with love for the canoe to give birth to the ‘Mulle-Gil’ Corporation in July. Their brand is called Blue Clover.
Blue Clover means ‘happiness on water’, by having blue symbolize water and the clover a three-leaf clover.
Because it also operates a canoe production factory, children can come and see the production process of canoes that are 100% hand-made.
The Mulle-Gil canoe is a classic wooden canoe made with red cedar. They are made by combining the wood by hand, and with the recently improved techniques, the weight has been dropped to about 20kg.
It can be carried anywhere by an adult male, and because it can hold up to 400kg, various outdoor leisure can be enjoyed such as camping and fishing.
Think about this: taking a canoe out to Bungeo Island or Jungdo Island and camping the night, and finally traveling through the morning for and seeing birds above the water. Is it not intriguing?
The canoe production factory allows anyone to make their own canoe.
They say that by investing two days on the weekends, one can make their one and only canoe on about the 5th week.
Canoes can be enjoyed as long as there is no ice.
Today, everything seems to go by so fast.
We’re tired and exhausted of our daily routines.
When taking into consideration Pascal’s famous quote, ‘All human misfortunes comes from not knowing how to rest in a quiet room’, Mulle-Gil will be the best place for rest.
Questions: 070-4150-9463 www.blueclover.co.kr , ww.mullegil.org, 644-23 Songam-dong, Chuncheon. Please make reservations.
