Cape Falcon Kayak

5 feet on the Gauge: My Second Time Down the Upper Wind

October 2012June 2023Leave a comment

After running the Upper Wind for the first time last week at 5.7 feet, I just had to hit it again, this time a bit lower. I love the first two miles of this run, it’s called four different rapids but it’s basically a non-stop class 4 boulder garden with a couple of eddies....

Welcome to California: Land of the Sieve, Please Boat Carefully

October 2012June 2023Leave a comment

I’ve had California dreams for quite a while now and after teaching a class in San Francisco, I was pretty stoked to meet up with some friends and fire up my first granite whitewater. After the class I made a brief detour over to Zion to do some sick canyoneering and then back to...

Solo on the Salmonberry: A One Paddler Adventure

September 2012June 2023Leave a comment

The lush and scenic Salmonberry river flows through a remote valley in the northwest coastal mountains in Oregon. A now washed out railroad line runs the length of the river, but only two roads cross it, lower Nehalem river road at the take out, (now also washed out at the Salmonberry bridge), and Beaver Slide...

Sunshine and Sadness: Paddling Away the Tears on the West Fork Hood River

September 2012June 2023Leave a comment

After weeks of pouring rain I was elated to wake up to a clear blue crisp June morning. My feet barely touched the ground as I flew out the door and across the street to my shop. Boat, paddle, drysuit, pads, helmet, skirt, check! Wait, I need coffee… Food is optional, coffee is not. Crossing back...

building a skin on frame kayak step by step

Step by Step: Kayak Building Class Photo Documentary

August 2012June 2023One Comment

Over the years I’ve begun each class by telling myself, “This time I’ll photograph the whole process.” Usually I don’t make it past the first day before I get absorbed in the teaching and forget the camera. This week I kept my promise and got some good shots, perhaps not all the steps, but...

Food: The Cape Falcon Kayak Summer Update 2012

July 2012June 2023Leave a comment

I have a confession to make, last week was the first time I’ve been in a kayak in months. As someone who’s built their reputation as a designer on being a fierce and avid paddler, I share this information with a guilty conscience. The truth is, I’ve lived and breathed kayaking for the last fifteen years...

Up and Over: Traversing Overland from Arch Cape to my house via Onion Peak

May 2012June 2023Leave a comment

For seven years now I’ve gazed upon the sentinel of Onion Peak. It’s bulwark has supervised the creation of my boatbuilding business, and then my organic farm. At times bathed in the warm glow of sunrise or sunset, at others wrapped in fog, blasted by rain, and covered with ice, I glanced up again...

Flow: The Cape Falcon Kayak Spring Update 2012

April 2012June 2023Leave a comment

Equinox, warmer rain, breaks of sun, chlorophyll floods the landscape, there is light in the morning and the evening, the farm comes to life, my whitewater trips are slowly replaced by surf missions. The thrill of spring is here! We just finished our first class of the year here at the shop and for once we had nice...

A free chiropractic adjustment

April 2012June 2023Leave a comment

About a month and a half ago I ran the right side of Sunset Falls on the East Fork Lewis much too aggressively and ended up punching out past the aerated water at the base of the 20 foot drop. I quickly tucked to protect my spine, with the unfortunate consequence that I brought my...

Adirondack Guideboat, Version 2.0

April 2012June 2023Leave a comment

A while back I built two skin-on-frame Adirondack Guideboats following John Gardeners survey of the Virginia. My writeup of those first two boats can be found here. Then I spent five years rowing, fishing, hauling logs, camping, and leaving them out in the rain. When it comes to getting to know a boat, there is...

Just Chillin’: Another Fun Run on the June Creek section of the Clackamas

April 2012June 2023Leave a comment

Last weekend if you were a boater in Portland you did one of two things, you either went for a meaty class 4+ run the Crooked River, (hey, invite me next time) or if you were a super hardcore bad-ass sick kayaker, you ran June Creek! On the roadside next to Bob’s, Mike gives his best, “whatchu talking about...

Putting it to the Test: BZ Section on the White Salmon and my first run on the Upper Wind

March 2012June 2023Leave a comment

Sunday afternoon I arrived at the White Salmon River as the last kayaker in the Northwest who hasn’t run the BZ section. Basically I’m a surf kayaker and I live right on the beach so the gorge is a bit of a haul for me, but hey, I was in Portland, so what the...

Transformation: The Cape Falcon Kayak Winter 2012 Report

February 2012June 2023Leave a comment

Between building and designing kayaks and building my off-grid organic farm, the last four years have been a crashing wave of relentless productivity. Occasionally a smooth carve and turn, often a violent tumbling side-surf. As I washed ashore and shook off the salt this fall, I found myself wondering, what next? I saw lots...

Building Kayaks at the Northwest Maritime Center: A few photos from the first class of 2012

January 2012June 2023Leave a comment

In the cold and rainy winter my unheated shop is often less than habitable. In these months I often travel to teach. Sometimes the venues are merely satisfactory so it’s a real treat to be able to teach at the Northwest Maritime Center in Port Townsend. Their workshop is beautiful, well equipped, and bustling...

Best of 2011 Whitewater

January 2012June 2023Leave a comment

I took a big step up in difficulty this year, and an unintended consequence of that is that I was busy surviving instead of taking photos so most of the burliest rapids and sickest drops went undocumented. I did still grab a few shots here and there though, and a few were taken of...