From 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 CommentsKayak (Not) For Sale
Published June 19, 2011 | 
As you may know, I’ve been working on this skin-on-frame kayak for some time. When I bought it, I felt like I had made a mistake. It’s not a great rolling boat.. not for me anyway.. To lay back on it you’d need a much longer torso than mine. It is a great cruiser though. Over the last year I’ve offered it up for sale and in the meantime I’ve been fiddling with it. I’ve cleaned it up, painted it, replaced the deck lines, put some fun new accents on it and so on. Over time, it’s become a pretty darned fancy boat. So much so that yesterday no less than 5 different people had to take time to tell me what a beautiful kayak I had. I talked to hikers on trails along the water, other paddlers who passed me by, and even a diver who waved me over to get a better look.. Yeah, I’ve put a bit of time into it.. and I’ve certainly got too many boats now… but if I think about it, I mean, really think about it.. I can’t think of any reason to sell it. So I wont. 
Posted in Kayaks, My Paddling, Paddling, Traditional Paddling | SOF, Traditional Paddling | 4 CommentsBack in Black
Published April 3, 2010 | 
Watching the painter painting / And all the time, the light is changing
And he keeps painting / That bit there, it was an accident
But he’s so pleased / It’s the best mistake, he could make
- k. bush
Ok, so there’s this whole vanity thing. (Disregard anything I may have implied in my last post!!). No, I didn’t suddenly buy another skin boat. This is the same beast with a new doo. Next comes a glass of red wine, some fine paint brushes, some leather, and a carving knife… I think I’m re-discovering my inner artist. Still, chances are even that I could end up selling it when I’m all done. We’ll see. But for the moment there is a certain joy in having a kayak that I can fiddle with. This canvas boat has become, my canvas.
Skined
Published March 25, 2010 | 
Your skin
Oh yeah your skin and bones
Turn into something beautiful
– coldplay
Let me begin today’s story by saying again, I’m not a “Greenland” kayaker. Whew, I’m glad THAT’s out the way…. Which brings me to yesterday when I drove over to Milwaukee to take a look at my friend Silbs skin-on-frame kayak. The boat is a bit special, at least to me, in that he built the kayak himself in 2005 at a class with Mark Rogers of Superior Kayaks. Honestly I knew I’d buy it.. Well, if I fit.
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