Over Labor Day weekend I attended the second annual New England Intermediate Rough Water Symposium hosted by Tom Bergh of Maine Island Kayak Company. Tom brought in BCU kayaking coaches from England as well as top paddlers from the US. I was there as a local guide to the waters and as an assistant coach.

The video below is something I put together giving my impressions of the event.

While the event has been marketed a little bit as a high-level event for "big-dog" paddlers, it is really intended as an event for intermediate paddlers who are striving to become better. While I always look forward to going out to the same venues we brought the participant to on days when it is really rollicking, those extremely rough days are not conducive to good teaching or learning.

It has been a long time since I have made any new entries on my blog. I hope my excuse is considered a good one. I've just been too busy, not only have I been helping Chesapeake Light Craft get my designs into their kit catalog, but I have been building boats, writing and buying a new house.

I am just now finishing up the boat building projects and will be delivering a microBootlegger out to Cape Cod later this week. I also just finished up a Night Heron and delivered that out to Long Island.

Prior to these boats I built 3 different boats for a new book project. The new book will be called Building Strip-Planked Boats. It is a thorough discussion of all aspects of building small, car-toppable boats using the "strip-planked" or "strip-built" method. I built three very different boats as examples for the book, including a small pram-style dinghy called Coot a extremely light-weight canoe called Nymph and my current favorite sea kayak, Petrel. I have just finished sending the last bit of material off to the editor and the book is scheduled for release this fall (2008).

Tropical storm Noel swept by New England in late October and sent some fun waves towards Napatree Point. I didn't get much good footage while paddling, but the resulting video is still fun.

A minimalist boat for smaller paddlers.

Nymph

With the publishing of my article about building Nymph in WoodenBoat Magazine I now have plans for this little canoe ready to go.

This little boat is well intended to be a light weight, easy to handle, minimalist boat for exploring sheltered ponds, lakes, and bays. I built the prototype using basswood and walnut using 1/8 inch thick strips and it came in at about 15 pounds. Even using thicker cedar it should be easy for most builders to keep her under 20 pounds. Skilled builders willing to push the limits may be able to shave a couple more pounds off.

More video from the reefs in the passage between Watch Hill, RI and Fishers Island, NY. This is out near buoy #2 on a day with about a 3 knot ebb. I'm paddling my Petrel. Also on the water were a Chatham 18 and a couple NDK Explorers.

I got a call from Bob Van Dyke of CVSW the other day. He said he had just been reading a book by Clive Cussler called Polar Shift. He had just picked up the book recently and was shocked to read the following:
"The latest addition to his fleet was the custom-made Guillemot kayak. He had bought it on an earlier trip to Seattle. He liked its natural wood construction and the graceful design of the thin hul, which was based on an Aleut craft. Like all his boats, it was fast as well as beautiful."

After teaching my class at the WoodenBoat School, I got a chance to head up to Blue Hill for some play time. There is a reversing falls that has a nice play wave popular with the whitewater crowd. I took my Petrel in for a little surfing action: