Catalog #176 Fram Museum, Oslo, Norway17’10″L 20 7/16″W 7 1/4″D 25lbs Every winter I invite a few brave souls to the cold dark shop to prototype the kayaks for the new year. This year Zach from Savannah, Georgia, made the trek to build a copy of this traditional Greenland hunting kayak. This Type V (see...
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Solstice Kayak Surf Session
Glistening frost, a black twinkling sky, a drysuit frozen stiff. 6am on the morning after solstice and I’m driving carefully to the beach. I call my friend Bryon, “The swell isn’t great, it’s still a little crossed and the open beach breaks are going to be a solid ass-beating. Let’s cruise down to Short Sands,...
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The Skin-on-Frame Adirondack Guide Boat
Originally designed to access the interior of the Adirondack wilderness, the guide boat is a miracle of ultralight engineering. Meticulously crafted, the original planked guide boats weighed seventy pounds yet could carry a thousand. This enabled the boats to traverse the many portages and link the many lakes and rivers in these glacially carved mountains. My...
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Adding a Rub Strip
A rub strip can protect your keel from wear as well as tighten the tracking on a kayak, my kayaks are designed to need a 1/4″ rub strip at the stern. The Ginnyak or SC-1 rub strip should be 15″ long and 7/16″ wide, boatbuilding hardwood (white oak, black locust). The replica receives 2 strips, a...
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Photo tour of 1931 Southwest Greenland kayak replica
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Building Kayaks in Sitka, Alaska
In late July I traveled to Sitka, Alaska to teach kayak building. Jackie and I stayed with Kitty who lives on a nearby island. The daily skiff ride was fun. A half mile walk on a trail led us to the house. Chicken of the woods mushrooms along the trail. and false solomon seal....
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Building Kayaks on the East Coast
in June I flew to Maine to teach kayak building there were lots of big, weird moths and we built some kayaks Standard outfitting for the post modern adventurer, ready for a gasoline shortage, or a flood Building kayaks and playing with kayaks Then south to New York for a quick paddle in the...
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Rescuing a bald eagle
Wednesday, May 25th. A beautiful morning on the Oregon coast, warm, offshore breeze, and one of the lowest tides of the year. While driving with kayak student Dominico Muscolino I decided it was imperative to postpone the construction of Dominico’s kayak and go hiking on the beach. While walking on a remote beach we discovered an injured young...
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Building SC-1’s in San Francisco
The Bay Area could be considered the unofficial home of the Mariner Coaster. For chasing short chop in the bay or getting wild with the tide rips underneath the golden gate the Coaster has long been considered the weapon of choice. Original Coasters are lusted after with a fervor that has broken friendships when...
"Building SC-1’s in San Francisco"Continue readingHawaii, Part IV: Kayaking the Hamakua Coast, and the Sickness from Hell
Hawaii, Part III I paddle out of Hilo at 8:30 am on Monday and as soon as I clear the breakwall I find myself dipping into into 20ft beam seas, the remnants of yesterdays 30kt tradewinds. The shoreline is verdant and dotted with high waterfalls, this is the we side of the island. I...
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Hawaii, Part III: Kayaking the Kona Coast
Hawaii, Part II 2/12/07 – 2/17/07 Rich drives me to South Point where currents and winds from the Kau Coast and the Kona Coast accelerate and collide in an impressive washing machine. On some days, Rich tells me, the confluence is so violent that the waves stand up in fifteen foot spikes of water, the...
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Hawaii, Part II
Hawaii, Part I 2/8/07 Nothing incredible, exciting, or magical happened today. We sewed the skin on our kayaks and started carving paddles. It rained. I went to the grocery store in search of graduated measuring containers but didn’t find any, so we won’t be coating the kayaks until that happens. Day to day here is a...
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Hawaii, Part I: Winter Attempt to Circumnavigate the Big Island
Hawaii 2/1/07 Traveling on Hawaiian airlines is truly an experience to be missed. Six hours of video advertising, prostituting Hawaii’s beaches, rainforests, and reefs, punctuated by a bad full feature movie. Today’s feature was The Last Kiss, a movie about romantic betrayal so emotionally shattering that I couldn’t even watch it at home. Aloha. Headsets...
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Cold Winter Day at the Beach
This is the rarest of weather on the pacific coast, an east wind brings razor crisp horizons, and the clarity of the air makes everything feel hyper-real. Surveying the surf for a launch at sunrise, air temp 30 deg, west swell 6 ft @ 13 sec, wind offshore 20 knts. It’s looks deceptively small from...
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Kayak Class at Valley Forge
….deep into the Pennsylvania winter I was called to action. Kayak students desperately needed someone to lead them after a summer of relentless assault by the British Canoe Union. Privately I feared we could not build an army of Greenland paddlers during the cold and miserable tri-state winter, and when I arrived the cavernous and...
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