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Cape Falcon Kayak and other small boats PO Box 582 Manzanita OR
97130 brian@capefalconkayak.com
(503) 368-3044 evenings
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 photo by Kiliii I recently spent a week touring the San Juan islands with friend and traditional skills expert Kiliii Yu. We paddled in skinboats and foraged for wild food, to see the trip photo documentary click here Step by step, kayak building class photo documentary click here Some photos of a Greenland rolling demonstration click here Read about my new kayak design for 2008 the F1 The lightweight of a kayak, the speed of a canoe, the superior ergonomics of a rowboat..... the skin-on-frame Adirondack guide boat! Fram Museum # 176 Greenland kayak, this is the Greenland replica kayak we'll be building this year in classes. To see more photos and a full write up click here It is a shame that most people only know about Greenland kayaks, here is a page crafted by kayak historian Harvey Golden. It shows the broad diversity of traditional arctic kayaks. click here Kayak Building Classes January kayak building class at Valley Forge, nice photo documentary Building SC-1's in San Francisco, more cool pictures Building kayaks on the East Coast photos of big, weird moths Building kayaks in Sitka, Alaska kayak fishing photos Building a driftwood and scraps kayak photo documentary click here 2006 kayak building class photos click here Trips Paddling with Wally around Cape Falcon click here A week of paddling with my friend Alec click here Paddling the Pacific on a cold winter day click here Autumn fitness training, gorgeous surf photos click here 22 mile Oregon Coast training paddle, awesome pics click here Slots and sea caves click here Photos from PC-TIKS surf event held at Manzanita, Oregon click here My awesome winter paddle day with Rich and Bailey click here Rich Delong sent me more photos from Hawaii Winter attempt to circumnavigate the Big Island click here Man rolls truck over kayaks, view the damage click here Traditonal Replica Kayaks 1935 Sisimuit replica kayak the best Greenland kayak I've ever built. 1926 Sisimuit West Greenland kayak replica click here early 20th century East Greenland kayak replica click here New 1931 Greenland replica kayak delivered the old fashioned way click here Mid 20th century West Greenland replica click here 1850s Aleutian double kayak click here 1834 West Greenland kayak replica and great surf photos click here Modern Kayaks SC-1, SC-1 page Building the SC-1 Ginnyak II, my own design, simple, fast, light, manueverable. Other types of boats Photo documentary of voyaging my row/sail boat in the Sea of Cortez click here To see this boat being built click here Outrigger sailing canoe click here The Blue Canoe click here The experimental boat click here Tutorials Beginners guide to using a Greenland Kayak here foam thigh hooks Long cockpit thighbrace retrofit adding a rub strip installing a back band installing deck lines how to skin a kayak Davids' foot pedals |
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Captains Orders, Cape Falcon Kayak summer update 2008 Finding the flow. No you weren’t out to lunch; it’s true that there was no spring update this year, my sincere apologies to those of you who anticipate these messages from the edge of the big blue sea. Writing an update has fallen into the same category as my income taxes (yes, 2007, sigh) that is, something that desperately needs attention, but just not today. Normally I dispatch these messages at moments of completion or transition, but these days the time to reflect is elusive. The conception of one project overlaps the completion of another with my dual responsibilities as kayak builder and farmer. I’ve learned to work smarter, avoiding the frenetic cycle of create and crash, instead metering out a steady flow of productivity that begins at six in the morning and ends at ten at night. Classes are going well this year. Adding a seventh day and refusing to travel to teach was a good decision. Entering my fifth year and crossing the two hundredth kayak mark means the boats are looking very nice and process is getting really clean. Classes are easy and relaxed and for me at least, the boats seem to build themselves, I just hang out and chat incidentally offering instruction. I still hate the prep days but the teaching is more rewarding than ever. I’ve had so many interesting folks through the shop this spring: Army colonels, art students, machine operators, computer programmers, fishermen, English teachers, nurses, chemists, and one accountant from Dubai, are just a few of the people who arrived here to share their stories. I really enjoy meeting people, they get a kayak and I get a window into a whole different world. Design work punished me this spring, though it was a punishment that I brought upon myself. Last year I had a couple great boats and in a fit of insanity this fall I made the decision to erase all my measurements and burn all my forms. I told myself that if I really understood my designs, I would be able to recreate them by eye, and the result would be the same performance but with the enhanced ability to modify them, and with the stroke of a key I deleted fourteen months of trial and error. Ultimately I did get what I wanted, but instead of a few easy prototypes it took twenty kayaks and eight distinct design iterations, a bit more work than I was planning on. The result is my new F1 kayak (someone please send me a better name), and it is a darling. Fast, stable, maneuverable, comfortable, and super fun, it dominates the niche for people who want a skin-on-frame kayak that is not a copy of a traditional Eskimo kayak. For those who do I’ve continued to offer classes building accurate replica kayaks with one key difference from previous years, the introduction of scalability, like the F1, my Greenland kayaks can be sized to fit the weight of the paddler. This may not be strictly traditional but I’ve kept the outer sizes within the historic range for that kayak type, and the kayaks are still strictly proportional copies of the originals. An Eskimo kayak may not be the right kayak for all conditions, but the beauty and mystery of these original kayaks is what keeps me intrigued and grounds my design work in traditional roots. I never have enough time to recreate all the arctic kayaks I want to. On the water I continue to challenge myself as a paddler. After six years spent rebuilding a shredded shoulder, I am finally strong enough to carefully wield a spoon blade again and this winter I dove into whitewater kayaking with gusto, but maybe a bit more cautiously than when I was in my twenties. I was pleased to find that all the kayaks I coveted ten years ago are now for sale used for three hundred bucks, and in a stupor of blind lust I purchased five whitewater kayaks in two weeks only to sober up and wonder, ‘what am I going to do with five whitewater kayaks?’ It’s fun to be doing an unfamiliar type of kayaking, to feel challenged and humble. Trying to pick up where I left off ten years ago quickly resulted in a few well-deserved beatings and I realized that I’m going to have to step back to move forward. These days I’m not so eager to push it though and my focus is on harmonizing with the river, running with better control and cleaner lines rather than crashing downstream blinded by adrenaline. As the rains diminished and the rivers ran dry my attention turned to a branch of the sport I’d never explored, surf kayaking. When my friend Dave showed up for one of our surf sessions with this tiny little flat-bottomed boat shaped like a wooden shoe I was enchanted. I climbed in and went looking for action. As I swooped down my first green wall I cranked into a hard bottom turn, blasted up the wall, and snapped hard off the lip for a cutback, swooping down to do it all over again. I was hooked. Since then all I can dream of is owning my very own surf kayak and I’ve promised myself I will build or buy one by the end of the summer. Sea kayaking still forms the core of my paddling life and the auxiliary pursuits of whitewater, surf, and Greenland kayaking all feed each other making my experience on the ocean richer and more comfortable. I’m loving my time in the F1 and hope to soon have some videos online to share my experiences more fully. On the farm my dream of an independent sustainable life is taking flight. Thanks to Ginger we now have a burgeoning garden overflowing with fresh produce that we sell every week at the farmers market. Chickens clear the weeds of areas waiting to be planted, and beehives buzz with activity. Our completed small house features wood-fired and solar heated hot water, and micro-hydro and solar electricity. Building this homestead on a shoestring budget has given me tremendous hope for what is possible in America, even with the dwindling economy. This is still the land of opportunity; the opportunities are just a little different these days. I am proud to announce the official launch of our website, and our farm, Revolution Gardens, as a demonstration site and teaching center for low-budget do-it-yourself sustainable living. Beginning late this summer Ginger and I, working with local experts, will be offering a series of affordable sustainable living classes. Wood fired hot water, solar water heating, solar electricity installation, natural building, and wild edibles are just a few of the ideas as we begin the next phase of our homestead project. Look for schedules online by the end of July. http://www.capefalconkayak.com/revolutiongardens.html Another thing I am becoming more actively involved in is the Oregon Marine Reserves campaign. Presently a coalition of scientist and government agencies are considering the creation of marine reserves on the Oregon coast. A marine reserve is a permanently protected patch of ocean where all marine harvest activities are prohibited. These areas provide vital habitat for slow growing rockfish and other species to develop stable base populations from which they seed the surrounding waters with plentiful offspring. Fishermen are then free to fish the edges of the reserve, which provides a steady supply of new fish to the surrounding ocean open to normal fishing activity. Everywhere marine reserves have been established around the world, fishing has improved. As a lifelong Oregon coast fisherman I have watched what was once a plentiful fishery dwindle to almost nothing while fisheries managers did too little too late. Current levels of decline are catastrophic and without strong immediate action the resource will be ruined as fish populations fall to non-recoverable levels. If this is something you care about consider writing a letter to the Governor supporting the strongest possible protections as Marine Reserves proposals drafted by the state. Currently the opposition wants to create one small reserve and study it for ten years at which point the creation of more reserves will be a moot point because there will be nothing in them. What’s needed is a network of large reserves. These policies are being crafted this year and your voice will make a difference. For more information visit: http://www.oregonmarinereserves.net/ Finally, I want to mention that for the first time in a long time I still have a few spaces open this summer. Consider a class at the shop this August or September, the weather has been beautiful and we’ve been working outside on the grass. You are welcome to camp for free on site and I’ve been giving tours of the farm to each class. Also, for those who’ve been trying to entice me into teaching on the east coast this year, you win. I’ve scheduled a class to coincide with the 20th annual Delmarva paddler’s retreat October 11-17th. For more information on that class go to: http://www.delmarvapaddlersretreat.org/ez/ Well, my half Siamese tabby kitten Una won’t stop attacking my fingers as I type so I’m going to call it quits for this update (damnit, stop it Una!). Wherever you are and whatever type of kayaking you’re doing this summer I hope you find flow, that effortless glide of being immersed in the moment, of perfect intimacy with the liquid element that makes this sport so rewarding. Be safe, have fun, and don’t take yourself too seriously. You have your orders. Captain Brian Schulz, Cape Falcon Kayak |
