From Instagram | Cape Falcon Kayak

New bridle leather for kayak deck lines

June 2022September 2022Leave a comment

I’m obsessed with finding the best materials for my boats. Bungee, rope, cloth, fasteners, whatever, if it’s on a Cape Falcon boat, we probably bought and tested every possible option. I use a lot of rope and bungee on deck these days but for some of my deck lines nothing beats leather. It’s strong...

Video: Testing the Swiftwater Touring Kayak

June 2022September 2022Leave a comment

After two years of waiting I was finally able to (very carefully) test the latest prototype of the swift water touring design I’ve been working on for over 10 years now! Careful not because of the skin on frame construction, but just because I’m dealing with some spinal instability right now so I have...

Video: Side by side rudder testing

June 2022September 2022Leave a comment

We headed out to the Columbia for a side by side comparison of the Smart Track and Sea-Lect rudder systems with identical F1 kayaks and identical sails. 1 sq meter sails, gusting to 30. I like to test everything in the worst case scenario to check for any serious function or safety issues that...

Video: Sail Fail

June 2022September 2022Leave a comment

Before I talk about yesterdays sail and rudder tests, let’s have a little bit of fun at my expense. The play by play: Trying to stick a cool looking landing I wait too long to take down the sail. Instead of releasing the halyard and pulling back on the boom I release the sheet...

Rudder testing and installation course development

June 2022June 2023Leave a comment

In the midst of everything else that’s been going on we’ve been steadily slogging away at developing our skin on frame rudder and footbraces instructions. Basically I have three goals for this new addition to our video courses: The first one is to lose more money than I could ever possibly make back on the...

Giles’s Nesting Pack Canoes

June 2022September 2022Leave a comment

While my attention is focused elsewhere I thought I would share a couple student builds over the next couple days. You might remember these near-perfect nesting pack canoes built by Giles in New York. I finally got some on the water photos!...

Well, this last month pretty much sucked.

June 2022July 2023Leave a comment

Well, this last month pretty much sucked. For those of you who know my backstory, I co-exist with some pretty brutal health issues, but we just added a new one to the list: Starting about a month ago at almost exactly 7:30 PM every night, while totally relaxed, my blood pressure is spiking as...

Video: Some drone footage of Harvey Golden’s replica of the oldest surviving traditional Greenland kayak

May 2022September 2022Leave a comment

Some drone footage of Harvey Golden’s replica of the oldest surviving traditional Greenland kayak. The Lubeck kayak has a dark history that was recorded in surprising detail. On August 6th, 1606, at Ikertok (a fjord 20 km south of Sisimuit), Greenlanders in kayaks approached the Danish exploration ship Trost and some were kidnapped, as was...

Borrowing some of Harvey Golden’s replica museum kayaks for the day

May 2022September 2022Leave a comment

For my historic kayak work I tend to focus on early 20th century west Greenland rifle hunting kayaks because they are the easiest for modern paddlers to use, but these are far from the only types that existed. These two kayaks are replicas of museum kayaks built by Harvey Golden. I really appreciate Harvey‘s replica...

Video: Kayaks of Greenland is back in print!

May 2022September 2022Leave a comment

Great news: Kayaks of Greenland is back in print! If you’re not familiar with this amazing book you should be. Author (and friend) Harvey Golden spent 8 years surveying these kayaks and their associated artifacts in museums and private collections all over the world, ultimately compiling his efforts into this 585 page definitive work....

We reached our fundraising goals for the schoolchildren of Tiniteqilaaq!

May 2022July 2023Leave a comment

With all of my heart I want to thank everyone who contributed to our fundraiser to send the kids in the ultra-remote East Greenlandic village of Tiniteqilaaq to the Greenland national kayaking championships this year. We hit our $15,000 fundraising goal last night and transferred the first $10,000 to their kayak club to purchase...

Video: Nutria encounter!

May 2022September 2022Leave a comment

There was an unsettling amount of nutria (hundreds, why??) at our local urban paddling swamp last night so I set my iPhone to full zoom and carefully balanced it on a selfie tripod on the front deck of my Greenland kayak, thinking maybe I could get 20 feet away from one. But this guy...

Video: Some drone footage of the West Greenland kayak on flat water

May 2022September 2022Leave a comment

Pretty deep in the video editing right now so not a lot of time to work on social media stuff, but here’s a quick raw Skydio drone clip of the new West Greenland design on flat water. Swift, responsive, and comfortable, I am kind of addicted to paddling this thing right now. It’s totally...

We are down to the final week of fundraising for our friends in East Greenland!

May 2022July 2023Leave a comment

We are down to the final week of fundraising for our friends in East Greenland! For those of you who haven’t seen this before, I’ve been working with the school master in the tiny east Greenlandic village of Tiniteqilaaq to help them revive the local kayak building tradition. A settlement of just 96 people,...

Video: testing the West Greenland with a tie on skeg

May 2022July 2023Leave a comment

I’m not sure how much this actually interests anyone but I took the new Greenland design out in wind and waves with the tie on skeg (see post from a couple days ago for details) set in three different positions along the keel, and also just an oversized tall rub strip for comparison. Testing:...