Cape Falcon Kayak     and other small boats           

PO Box 582  Manzanita, OR  97130          capefalconkayak@gmail.com

Please stop sending emails to capefalconkayak@yahoo.com this is not a working email!


Sustainable Living

Customer feedback

Skin on Frame Kayaks
Kayak Designs
Greenland Paddles
Art/Architectural installations

Kayak Building Classes
Kayaking gear guide / sales

About Us
Location
Class Schedule




Flow,  the Cape Falcon Kayak spring update for 2012



Adirondack Guide Boat version 2.0.   Check out the newest boats here



Kayak Building Classes

First class of the year!   Building kayaks at the Northwest Maritime Center
Winter 2011,  kayak building on Orcas Island
Teaching in Tasmania, building kayaks down under
Some photos from our first class of the year at the home base
Step by step, kayak building class photo documentary click here
I was invited to teach kayak building at the 20th annual Delmarva paddlers retreat. click here
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
On the road again...  Building kayaks in North Carolina click here
Building a driftwood and scraps kayak photo documentary click here

Seasonal Updates
Transformation,  Cape Falcon Kayak 2012 winter update.
Farewell September,  Cape Falcon Kayak fall update 2011
Cape Falcon Kayak summer photo update and general purpose apology here
A kayak named 'Sarah McLachlan',  2010 year in review

Trips and Adventures
A Cape Falcon Kayak solstice surf session
A terrestrial adventure,  crossing overland from the ocean to the farm via Onion Peak
Creeking goes coastal,  a trip around the mountain in whitewater kayaks
Happy holidays,  my from-scratch pumpkin pie recipe,  enjoy.
Black Friday Bargain,  Cape Falcon Kayak goes shopping.
Surf, salmon, sunsets, and smiles  paddling with Jeff and Cate from Liquid Fusion Kayaking
Dirk and I head out for a quick morning surf session before he heads back to Newfoundland.
Tandem voyage down the Ozette Coast.
and crash landing the F2 at Arch Cape

Some photos of a Greenland rolling demonstration  click here
I spent a week touring the San Juan islands with friend and traditional skills expert Kiliii Yu. click here
This August myself and Mike Higgins spent a week paddling the Southern Oregon coast.
Happy holidays, check out my adventure of kayaking to thanksgiving dinner  click here
I took with a friend to the desert canyons of Utah to kayak on the Green River
12 hours in a dry suit click here
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
Skipping work, what I did today instead click here
Salvaging logs by kayak click here

Fish Stories
Catching a huge fall Chinook from my F1 kayak  story here
Hooking up at the bar,  a tale of pursuit.
Whitewater kayak fishing for winter steelhead
Crabs for dinner,  a tale of modern day kayak hunting.

Murder by Kayak, a true story of warm blooded killing  click here
Killer waves and stolen crabs, extreme crabbing shennanigans click here

Whitewater
Class IV the Cape Falcon Kayak whitewater kayaking blog

Traditonal Replica Kayaks
Follow along as I build a Canadian Arctic kayak frame from driftwood with hand tools
Fram Museum # 176 Greenland kayak click here
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
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

Modern Kayaks
A few quick photos of a kayak design I've been working on for the last couple years here
Introducing the F2 tandem kayak,   F2 Design Page
Read about my new kayak design for 2008 the F1
modified fiberglass squirt boat  The Vulcan surf project
NEW!  MULTISPORT RACING KAYAK CLICK HERE
Testing my longer sea kayak design, the L.P.B.   click here

Other types of boats
The lightweight of a kayak, the speed of a canoe, the skin-on-frame Adirondack guide boat!
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
A guide that I put together to introduce students and customers to using the F1.
A new page to help people better understand the tradeoffs in kayak design:  choosing a kayak
a different seat for the F1
foam thigh hooks
Ted's anti-pop footbrace solution
adding a rub strip
installing a back band
installing deck lines
how to skin a kayak
Davids' foot pedals


  Sustainable Architecture
Come for a class and rent the Japanese Forest House
The finally finished R-evolution Gardens Bath House.


Cape Falcon Kayak

Pretty good kayaks, at not-too-bad prices

I’m supposed to tell you that a skin-on-frame kayak is better than any other type of kayak.   The trouble is, I don’t really believe that.  I mean, you are talking to a guy that owns six plastic whitewater kayaks.  I believe that every kayak has a proper use, a glass kayak will carry a lot of gear and last forever provided you don’t bang it into things, a plastic kayak is indestructible, if not a bit sluggish and heavy.   A well-designed skin kayak is all about sweet paddling, which is how I got into this whole thing.   Seven years ago I built a skin-on-frame baidarka, and even though it paddled terrible, it only weighed twenty-five pounds and I ended up taking it everywhere I went.  It was beautiful and I was surprised by how tough it was.  It was also fun and easy to build.  There are few things as rewarding as building your own kayak in a week.   Still, I am a paddler first and a craftsman second, so I had to find a way to make one that paddled as good as it looked.   I started building kayaks, one per week, exploring the art of kayak design.   Copying traditional Eskimo kayaks and my favorite commercial kayaks I came to recognize skin-on-frame as a powerful tool for design evolution, setting me free to explore wherever my imagination took me.

Since then I have built, taught, and helped build over 400 skin-on-frame kayaks, and these days things are looking pretty nice.  Professional, refined, strong, and super lightweight.   During that time I’ve stayed true to my roots as a paddler, testing my kayaks on the exposed and unforgiving Oregon coastline.  More than a few boats have ended up in the scrap pile, and that is part of the beauty of skin-on-frame prototyping.   Unlike the professional designer who has months, sometimes years, and thousands of dollars into a design before the first prototype is even tested, my designs are conceived and tested in weeks, and if it doesn’t paddle exactly how I want, I don’t have the same pressures to push it into production.   Each skin kayak is unique, there is no mold or form, which means it is easy to make changes in the design to suit the individual, something that is impossible with mass production.

The coolest thing about skin-on-frame is that you build it yourself.  Sure I can sell you a finished kayak, but first I’ll try to talk you into a class.   For 1300 dollars and one week of your time you leave with a paddle and a kayak that you made with your own hands.    We build in my beautiful workshop on the Oregon coast, enjoying a relaxed pace with plenty of time for long lunches and evening walks on the beach.   You will have an opportunity to tour my off-grid organic farm right across the street, and when the weather is nice, we try to have a potluck barbeque.   When you are done you not only have a kayak, you have a connection to the place and people where it was made.  It’s these connections that are missing when you buy a kayak outright, whether it’s from me or from a shop.

Is a skin-on-frame kayak right for you?  That’s a question only you can answer, what I can tell you is that no one works harder than I do to fit and test the best skin-on-frame kayaks available.  Don’t take my word for it though, come out to the shop and paddle a few boats, you just might fall in love.

Brian Schulz


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