The Story of Stuff
Published November 3, 2011 | 
We were talking about how tough (or not tough) newer kayaks are these days, which brought up a reference to the popular “The Story of Stuff” video. If you’ve not seen it before, take a moment. Better yet, share it. This all fits right in with the point I’m always trying to make about gear; The number one selling point should always be, that it will not need to be replaced in a very long time!
Posted in Kayaks, More Gear Reviews, Outdoor Recreation, Paddle Gear, Paddling | 
Enviroment, quality, Sustainability | 
Leave a commentCan’t Take A Punch?
Published October 27, 2011 | 
Remember the bad old days when kayaks used to weigh a ton? Isn’t it wonderful how they are so light and easy to carry these days? Bah, humbug! When I decided to my “100 Miles To Winter” paddle for the Devil’s Lake State Park Centennial, I decided to do it in my old, heavy, 1996 NDK (Now Seakayaking UK) Romany. In fact, any time I think I’m going to be leaving gel coat deposits on the beaches and subsurface rocks.. I grab the Romany. I don’t dare take my Rockpool Alaw Bach. It’s my favorite kayak, but it’s made the modern way and I’ve already worn 4 holes through the hull. Not to mention the cracks! I don’t dare take my skin boat.. When I take it out, I have to carry it out into the water far enough that I won’t possibly tear it on a hidden stone. In addition, I like paddling near shore, especially in bouncy water and there is always a risk of hitting or dragging my boat over something. With the old tank, I’m not all that concerned. It’s tough, and repairs are easy. Continue reading
Tempest Teach Test
Published September 13, 2011 | 
Last Saturday I decided to leave my kayak at home and use one of our student boats, the Tempest 165, to coach the intro to sea kayaking class. One thing I’ve learned over the years is that when you take a kayak out to test paddle, you can sometimes be blinded to certain qualities of the boat simply by over focusing on reviewing the it in the first place. I’m not sure how that happens other than you are somehow out of your normal element when you test paddle and it can change your perceptions. I think that doing something you do all the time in your personal kayak and simply switching boats, then getting on to business can somehow allow certain things to stand out much quicker simply because you’re not really looking for them. So for what it’s worth… Continue reading
Skerray Monday
Published August 22, 2011 | 
I was going to sit down and write about the Gales Storm Gathering symposium coming up this October 8th – 10th, but instead you get a picture of my Rockpool sitting in the grass by a posh looking fountain filled pond. The reason is that I spent yesterday teaching an all day class at Rutabaga (Home of the posh pond), and I have to zoom back down there this morning to do another. I’ve no time for anything but gibberish this morning! I often teach a lot more in this time of year, when all the college students go back to school and they’re forced to let us old geezers out to teach again. Continue reading
Bad, Bad, Naughty Cam
Published August 14, 2011 | 
As a sea kayaking coach I see lots of kayaks & gear on the water each year. I have the opportunity to see how students actually use their gear, how it works for them and how sometimes it really fails. Take these Cam-Clips for instance. I’ve ranted about them in the past, but they never seem to go away either. They’re like a bad dream that just lingers in your memory and ruins your day. Why? Well, the first time I was introduced to these Current Design’s hooky-strappy things, a student was working on a layback roll. When they rolled the kayak, they put their back against the hull, slid a bit, and hooked the shoulder strap of their PFD under the cam lever! They were stuck. It was a really scary moment for them and not a very pleasant introduction to rolling a kayak either. Even after I rolled them up, they couldn’t just sit up. They had to slide back off the clip, (after we figured it out.) then sit up. It wouldn’t be hard to imagine that under duress and upside down, a person may never realize they have to slide to their left to get free.. Then what? Continue reading
Posted in Commentary & Rants, Kayaks, Paddling, Quixotica, Safety | Current Designs, Safety | 16 CommentsFrom The Peter Strand Collection
Published August 11, 2011 | 
Saw an ad in the newspaper that caught my eye
I said to my baby this sounds like the ticket for you and I
It said volunteers wanted for a very special trip
To commune with Mother Nature on a big wooden ship
If you’re like me and you couldn’t put two boards together to save your life.. (Well, I did build a porch once. . but.. oh, nevermind!) and kit boats and classes just won’t save you from your own lack of time or talent, that shouldn’t stop you from enjoying the experience of paddling your own hand-made skin-on-frame kayak. The trick of course, is finding someone to build it for you that won’t make you feel like a second class citizen for not doing it yourself. To make things even more challenging, if you try googling (a verb??) something like, “skin-on-frame kayak (or qajaq) builders”, you’ll get lots of links to information on building your own, but almost nothing about buying a pre-made or custom boat. If there are a bunch of commercial SOF builders out there other than Cape Falcon Kayaks, there’s some serious search engine optimization to be done. Well, one builder that I can recommend is Peter Strand. In fact, I had one of his kayaks come visit me yesterday. Continue reading
Posted in Kayaks, Paddling, People, Traditional Paddling | Peter Strand, skin-on-frame, SOF, Traditional Paddling | 3 Comments
Modesty, propriety can lead to notoriety
You could end up as the only one
Gentleness, sobriety are rare in this society
At night a candle’s brighter than the sun – sting
I can’t review P&H Sea Kayaks new Delphin. Yeah, I did get time to paddle one this summer when I was teaching in Michigan. Thing is, the Delphin is purpose-built. It’s a surfer. In any other conditions it simply will not be at it’s finest. Funny thing though, all the hype around the Delphin has a lot of folks who’ll never actually go surfing salivating, regardless of how it may or may not paddle on flat water. If nothing else, it does show that P&H Sea Kayaks is simply destroying their competitors when it comes to marketing their products. Hey, somebody should say it. In the last couple of years P&H has been dusting everyone in their wake. When you’re talking big waves, P&H is riding it and at the moment, from the cockpit of the Delphin. Continue reading →