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Home > Magazine > Boats
Nice Row-Sail Rig on the Road
August 11, 2010 - We passed this rig yesterday along the road (M37) while driving south from TC. I don't know what it is, except versatile. It's like the Cape Dory 14 I've seen around here, but bigger. And what's more, it has side-seating. The Dory just has a small side-seat at the back then 2 thwart-boards further up, mostly for rowing. ...  > Read Article
Saw a Nordica 16 in a Gale
August 08, 2010 - It was blowing hard on Sutton's Bay recently and my pal and I decided not to go out in his O'Day 16 open boat. Other boats had reduced sail or were heading back in. One little daysailor with cuddy caught my eye. It was small but they were sailing with a reef in the main. I'm no boat pro but little boats that reef aren't an eve...  > Read Article
Wouldn't it be neat to see Working Sail?
August 07, 2010 - I'd like to see the return of Working Sail. ...Boats being used for something other than recreation. Whenever I get out on the water I wish I could be doing something rather than just going back'n'forth. Any ideas?  > Read Article
King Sunfish
August 04, 2010 - While sailing in light zephyrs with a pal in a small O'Day, a Sunfish caught up to us bearing a middle-aged couple, the trim lady posed on the foredeck, as if she were on a yacht. It was cute and I said something funny. They knew my captain and we chatted. They soon tacked past our stern and were off elsewhere. My pal said "That's...  > Read Article
RIP Phil Bolger: coolest small boat designer
August 02, 2010 - This is old news for small boat people (last year even), but we no longer have the best small boat designer with us anymore. Phil Bolger was a tough old bird and he did things his way all the way to the end, and including the end. He designed 650+ boats and changed the way we look at small boats. His most recent effort is...  > Read Article
Biggest Canoe Race: Game On for the AuSable!
July 25, 2010 - I've been remiss in not letting you know about the AuSable Canoe Marathon. It's happening RIGHT NOW! It's easy to watch it online, so you have until about 1pm to enjoy the action. ...Or, just pretend that it didn't start yesterday and scroll through the results-updates whenever you like and watch the race unfold. What I ...  > Read Article | Go to Website
AuSable Marathon YouTube Videos (and other races, too)
July 25, 2010 - I'm lamely behind the ball on this sports reporting stuff this year for the Marathon. It's already over! But here are a few nifty YouTube videos to check out for some reverse inspiration... *This one offers a bow-cam point of view of the start. Pure mayhem! Feel the fever... Watch the wipeouts... Read Article
Canoe SUP *finally* coming on!
July 23, 2010 - SUP is all the rage these days. There are at least two magazines on it out there, on everyday newstands. Stand-up Paddle surfing makes sense here in the Great Lakes area. We have a lot of water, and lots of waves, but no really big waves. SUP lets you surf small water. It's also a dandy workout. We're up north these days, nea...  > Read Article
"Messing About in Boats": May issue
June 20, 2010 - MAIB doesn't have much of an online presence. That's because it's actually an effiective, efficient, one-man real paper magazine. The best boat magazine in the world. Use the website to buy a sub, that's all. Subs are $32 a year for 12 issues. They're thick, dense 60-pagers. Black'n'white. The editor, Bob Hicks, might've finally hit...  > Read Article | Go to Website
"Messing About in Boats": June issue
June 20, 2010 - MAIB doesn't have much of an online presence. That's because it's actually an effective, efficient, one-man real PAPER magazine. The best boat magazine in the world. Use the website to buy a sub, that's all. Subs are $32 a year for 12 issues. They're thick, dense 60-pagers. You can't buy it on newstands, either. Bob hates the waste....  > Read Article | Go to Website
Hugh Heward Canoe Day 2010: lotsa gungho paddlers and exotic boats
May 14, 2010 - The Hugh Heward Canoe Challenge has come and gone so I thought it was high time I posted some pics and info from our day on the water. Local pal Chris McCarus and I paddled the 13-mile option starting at the Charlotte highway bridge. This route featured the Portland State Game Area and finished in downtown Portland like the other ...  > Read Article
The Bushwacker 150 Canoe challenge: coming May 22
May 14, 2010 - It'll be the 3rd running of this nutty event. You start where the Pine River starts, as a bushy creek in the center of the state. Then you try to follow it down a long ways. There a seven mile portage in there somewhere. Don't worry: there are several distance options if you're not up for the whole thing. The event commemorate...  > Read Article | Go to Website
My New "Family Friendly" Canoe Stroke: The Windmill
May 14, 2010 - I don't have any pics or vids yet, but I have to spill the beans. You know how I've launched some fun innovations in XC skiing? Well, I've worked out my own nifty canoe-paddling stroke! It's the family-friendly "windmill." When you're canoeing with extra people in a boat (sitting between the paddlers) you don't want to bonk them ...  > Read Article
Big Canoe Day! Hugh Heward Challenge 4/24
April 23, 2010 - I'm sorry for not putting this up sooner, but the big HH is tomorrow! This is the major canoe event for mid-Michigan -- maybe 50-100 boats of all skill levels show up. The event offers distances from Adventurous to Extreme. It's not a "lilly dipper" outing for anyone, but something to give you a Big Day. Big Chris McCarus and...  > Read Article | Go to Website
Liberate the Kayaks!
March 05, 2010 - The kayaks went into the back yard last fall when my brother built a new garage for us (using lumber from a tree that had fallen next to our house a month before). The day he finished and hauled away his tools -- about Thanksgiving -- it snowed and froze and everything in the yard has been bound up ever since. Well, we did tarp ...  > Read Article
SUP: Now HUGE but still no canoes...
January 30, 2010 - That's Jennifer Aniston doing "Stand Up Paddling." So you know it's big. SUP has a buncha websites, companies, races...and its own magazine. Lots people do it on flatwater for exercise. They use windsurfer boards. (There's a guy who does it on our local lake.) But I've yet to see any mention of people doing it in a CANOE...  > Read Article
Messing About in Boats (1/10): great winter issue
January 20, 2010 - The wonderful winter issue of MAIB arrived. Great as always! Get yours at http://messingaboutinboats.com. It's the best magazine for casual reading about casual small boats. It has the human-scale down pat. No uppity anything. It's 60 jam-packed pages every month (well, maybe slightly less often in winter). And it's not on newsta...  > Read Article
Adventures of Greg: Ocean Pedal-Boat Record Attempt
October 24, 2009 - Super-Greg and his ultra-adventure friend Jordan Hanssen are setting out today to set a new human-powered record for circumnavigating Vancouver Island. Greg is a gung-ho entrepreneur who ties his various record-attempts in with larger social issues like childhood fitness advocacy which he promotes on speaking tours, and a fund...  > Read Article | Go to Website
The Ideal Boat...
October 11, 2009 - I just read that famous aviator Ernest Gann wrote that after much testing, his ideal custom boat would: "Drink six, eat four and sleep two."  > Read Article
William Nealy: Greatest WW Kayak / Mtbike Cartoonist, Educator
October 04, 2009 - Do you know William Nealy and his cartoons and books? If not, you're in for a real treat. He's the guy whose artwork and humor brought the free-spirited, underground indie foundations of whitewater kayak culture and mtbike culture out into a much-wider audience than it had before. He taught in his art and he was hilarious ...  > Read Article | Go to Website
"Epoxyworks": Creativity with Glue
September 22, 2009 - The brothers Gougeon run WEST SYSTEM, a gungho glue company in Bay City, Michigan. I suppose they could've pushed the mainstream huge-account side of their chemical biz, but I think it's cool that they've always remembered the little guys. The brothers themselves are involved in small boat fun and innovating. Again, the...  > Read Article | Go to Website
A Tale of Two Kayaks
September 09, 2009 - I've made mention here before of the two sea kayaks that I'm privileged to paddle, but there aren't many clear pics of them, not of the Woody, at any rate. So here's a few pics showing what's up. A few years ago friend Karl Pearson moved up north and lightened his load by selling a few of his boats. I got the wood-strip knoc...  > Read Article
Website of an Adventuring Daysailer
September 02, 2009 - Here's a simple webpage set up by a guy who uses his cute little Wayfarer daysailer boat to go on all sorts of adventures over in the UK. It's a boat that's easy to trailer and is famously seaworthy yet quite zippy and rowable. They're also commonly rigged with a boom-tent for sleeping in. Cozy and easy on the pocketbook! --...  > Read Article | Go to Website
AuSable Canoe Marathon: cool opening video
September 02, 2009 - The AuSable Canoe Marathon has a cool opening video sequence these days at its website. It also features the photography of Mark Bialek, a racer friend who is also a pro photojournalist (http://www.markbialek.com). There's a lot more video and dramatic photography at the site nowadays Here's footage of the 2008 start,...  > Read Article | Go to Website
Straits Kayaking, Ahoy!
August 27, 2009 - I'm planning on kayaking the few miles over to Mackinac Island from St. Ignace tomorrow or Saturday. I'll go if the weather isn't too harsh. There's an old worker's reunion over there this weekend. It'll be nice to see some old pals, I hope. I don't know who'll be there, but probably some good ol' folks. That island meant ...  > Read Article
One of These Things is Not Like the Other...
August 02, 2009 - This was a real life scene on the Huron River today. But this photo is misleading. It looks like a decked C1 hair boater is blasting past a batch of tube turkeys. No, no, no. There were about 50 drunk floaties in a huge drift and Old Super Dude was PART OF THEIR GROUP! I tried to get a pic showing him churning around in their ...  > Read Article
Crayzee! -- Bowcam of Start of '09 AuSable Marathon
July 29, 2009 - Here's my quicky report on this year's AuSable Canoe Marathon... 120 miles of fun, all night long. Winners take 14-15 hours. This year had the most teams ever enter, 90 or so. They're also going for the largest purse in pro canoeing, $50k. So here's what I'm talking about... A Youtube video taken with a camera on the bow...  > Read Article
Small Boat Challenge, Ahoy!
May 11, 2009 - Why follow (only) big fancy sports when there's so much nifty smallworld action out there? Introducing the Florida 120! --It's a more compact neighbor of the Texas 200. As the homepage says it's a raid-type event, "not so much a race as a challenge for small boats." That is, it's a good-time adventure for a wide range of s...  > Read Article | Go to Website
JP's Hugh Heward Challenge River Report (and Style Analysis)
April 27, 2009 - I paddled the farthest ever in my life yesterday: 50 miles. I'd probably only ever paddled 15 miles before. Sorry this report is so long, but I can't help it! I need an editor...but where to cut? Well, see what you think... (3 pics at the bottom if you want to skip ahead...) So here's both a Day Report and a Canoe Design Anal...  > Read Article
Hugh Heward coming up! --50 mile Canoe thru Lansing
April 20, 2009 - I can't find a good pic to highlight this event, but for quite a few years now each April there's been a 50-mile big day of canoeing to commemorate the same route in 1790 that Hugh Heward and a small group of 8 in 2 canoes paddled in one day to leave some chasing Indians in the dust. This event also commemorates and raises fund...  > Read Article | Go to Website
Small Craft Advisor: Mar/Apr '09 issue available!
March 17, 2009 - Here's the cover and the list of topics covered in the Mar/Apr 2009 #56 issue of SCA, the finest full-color boat mag: * 16-foot Pelican to Hawaii * Capsize at Clipper Cove * Matilda 16 * Larry Brown's New Hull * Bartender Boat Rendezvous * Man Overboard * Jibsheet Lead * Build a Cabin Step ...  > Read Article | Go to Website
Quiet Water Symposium 2009: Pics & Quik Report
March 13, 2009 - The QWS was bigger than ever this year with a record 1500 visitors for the one-day show in the big polebarn south of the MSU campus. (This volunteer-run event shares the space with a rabbit show.) As usual, the anchor attractions---Cliff Jacobson, camping guru, and the McGuffins, ambassadors of Ontario paddling and photography--...  > Read Article
Bolger, Michalak & "The Simplistic Sailboat Cruise"
February 21, 2009 - I'm charmed by the innovative, practical, high-performance, thrifty boat ideas of Phil Bolger and Jim Michalak. And to me these ideas morph and come to life in the book, "The Simplistic Sailboat: A Family Cruise in a $600 Boat," by Dan Hookham. Dan was inspired by Bolger & The Gang then took their ideas and ran with em to cre...  > Read Article
"Small Craft Advisor": the (color) magazine of small boats
February 02, 2009 - Man, a full color magazine about small boats. How much better can ya get? Well, there's "Messing About in Boats." But these are two rather different birds. You should be reading both, of course. In the world of small boats, when you're in color, you're mighty swell already. You have a subject that throws itself at you wit...  > Read Article | Go to Website
"Messing About in Boats": world's best boat mag
February 02, 2009 - It's the best because it's for you and by you, a regular person. It has the ultimate human scale. OK, actually it has an average human scale. You *could* do anything in its pages. You can easily appreciate anything in it. Nothing here is putting you in your place or reminding you of it. MAIB is a mag that has little on...  > Read Article | Go to Website
Pirates of the Caribbean on Dramamine: the Bum's Life on an Old Wood Boat in L.A. Harbor
December 07, 2008 - Here's a tale of what happened to me and my buddies when I adopted an ocean-going sailboat moored in Lotus-land by Jeff Potter [I published part of this story years ago in an issue of OYB and it was reprinted in MAIB but I thought it deserved better billing than it got in my backlist of textfiles here and th...  > Read Article
Wayfarer: sweet small boat
November 15, 2008 - I keep thinking I already have a story up here about these boats, but I searched and didn't find anything really. They are featured in the "cool sailboat" youtube video series I put up recently, but otherwise, nada. I've enjoyed studying this breed of daysailor for a few years now. It's a very versatile 16-footer that's b...  > Read Article | Go to Website
Bolger's "Martha Jane": quirky yet fast beach cruiser
November 15, 2008 - I've read about Bolger boats for years. Phil Bolger is an old fart who designs amazing boats and writes wonderfully about them in "Messing About in Boats" magazine. I can't say enough about this guy, so I won't. : ) I recently had an amazing series of columns in MAIB about the demise of smalltown commercial fishing...and th...  > Read Article
Great Small Boat Magazine: "Small Craft Advisor"
November 09, 2008 - There are a lot of boats out there that aren't very useful. Most of the boat media is about such boats. Furthermore, most of the boats you see out on the water these days have a lot of downsides to them. At least around here in mid-Michigan, anyway. 90% of boats that I see in my region are: huge, expensive, clunky pontoon...  > Read Article | Go to Website
"This is the Sea, Vol. 4": new sea kayak culture video!
November 07, 2008 - This link leads to the Amazon listing for this movie (flagged with my handy OYB-donation tag). The real website for this movie is here: http://www.cackletv.com/this-is-the-sea.html. This is a wonderful movie series filmed by Justine Curgenven. (Is she Welsh? It's pronounced "cur-GEN-ven" with a hard G.) Her new Volume ...  > Read Article | Go to Website
Ever More Versatile Little Boats
November 05, 2008 - John Welsford designs cute little VERSATILE boats. I think that's what we need more of these days. When you go out for a little sail and the wind dies, why fool around with sitting there? Why not ship your well-made oars and enjoy a pull? A well-made boat fitted with the right oars just glides along like a bike rolls or like ski...  > Read Article
The Solo Nexus --- 1st OYB Video Story!
October 20, 2008 - [Bump from Hallowe'en '06] A long time ago our pal Dave E told us about a neat way to do a canoe outing and we've been doing it ever since. It's called the Solo Nexus. You spot a bike down at where you'll end your canoeing. Then you drive back upstream and canoe down to the bike. You spot the canoe then ride back to the car, put ...  > Read Article
Autumn Outing...
October 20, 2008 - [Bump from 10/30/07] This fall, on my birthday, I went for a paddle on the Red Cedar a half mile from our house. I used Grampa Craig's old wood'n'canvas canoe. I put a rock in the bow to trim the boat more level. I only sat down and paddled for a few minutes. For the past few years I prefer to stand and use a pole in sh...  > Read Article
Want a Big Boat? Here They are, Cheap...
October 16, 2008 - The Sea Cadets runs a boat donation program where people can get rid of burdensome boats for a tax write-off. I've heard they're mostly re-sold for about $1000. I have no idea what the real scoop is. Here's the link to the program in Michigan. I think that most areas have such programs. Maybe the Boy Scouts also run such programs...  > Read Article | Go to Website
Cool Sailing YouTubes
September 22, 2008 - You've probably seen these already. There are a ton of sweet sailing videos easily searched up on YouTube. But in case you haven't, here are several doozies for ya! ---They show a wide range of sail action. Let's start with the all-time classic sail video of a black and white movie by Allan Villiers showing an oldtime square...  > Read Article
A New DIY World Record for Greg K: the 24 Hr. Human Powered Boat
September 12, 2008 - Greg Kolodziejzyk likes setting world records. And he's darn good at it! He seems to do it all based out of his garage and with some help from his friends. He has the 24-hour record for miles on the *ground* covered by human power---something like 650. And just a couple days ago he added the 24-hour HP *water record, with...  > Read Article | Go to Website
Sweet New Chicago Event: a Populist Boat Race!
August 21, 2008 - Sept. 27 will see the second running of a nifty new Chicago race: the Shoreline Marathon. For the first time, the lovely local emerald waters are host to an easy-to-enter boat race. A lot of boat culture is relatively elite. Paddlesport is affordable and simple. I suppose the only simpler local water event would be an open water s...  > Read Article | Go to Website
The Grand River at Portland State Game Area: Wow!
July 28, 2008 - Ingham County in mid-Michigan is where we live. I'm nuts about water and flowing water. Sadly, our county has the least (I think) water in our water-rich state. In our immediate area we have a couple ditch-like creeks and a river. The Red Cedar river is only a half mile from our house. What luck! And, indeed, it is great---every...  > Read Article
How to Roll a Kayak
July 13, 2008 - Here are my simple tips. (I checked my last report on this subject and it was VERY longwinded...so this will be a shorty.) It took me a few years to figure it out. I had some good help, too. But maybe I can teach you how to do it in a jiffy. :) If you paddle a sea kayak much---or ever dare to make any kind of open water cr...  > Read Article
Paddlesport has a lot to offer...
July 07, 2008 - ...That you don't read about in paddle-mags. [Article updated from 2005.] I'm presently flipping out about small boats. I don't quite know why. First, I'm simply captivated by all the amazing events and races that use little boats. Then there's just the going out in a boat. Going on an adventure. Packing up and heading out. I...  > Read Article
AuSable Canoe Marathon---the fever begins!
July 07, 2008 - It's time to start getting ready to follow the Marathon! It's coming up on July 26th. It's the 61st running of the 120-mile AuSable Canoe Marathon, sponsored by Weyerhouser lumber. This year my pal Tim Feldkamp has entered with teammate Grant Tally. We'll see how they do! It's easy to follow the race, thanks to the homep...  > Read Article | Go to Website
The Blackburn Challenge: a People's Paddle Race
July 07, 2008 - Every year on the East Coast there's a very popular tough ocean paddling race, the Blackburn Challenge. It's named after an old-time dory fisherman whose hands froze to his oars but he made it home anyway. (The fingers had to come off later.) It's a 20 mile race that takes several hours and covers a couple bays plus a bunch of outsi...  > Read Article
The Dusi: the very biggest of all paddle marathons...
July 07, 2008 - They go large in South Africa. The Dusi is a kayak marathon that has been held each January for over 50 years. Over 1000 paddlers race 110 miles in 3 days to Durban. They use very narrow, tippy flatwater kayaks---yet there are many big rapids on this course. It's crazy! There are also many hilly, brushy portages. Sadly, it...  > Read Article
Wildwater paddling: long distance in the rapids
July 07, 2008 - When people think of whitewater paddling nowadays they usually imagine big water play in 4-foot long "boats" that look like elf-slippers. These boats aren't made to paddle anywhere. They're just for play. And, of course, they're great at that. But there's another kind of whitewater action out there. It's called Wildwater or Down...  > Read Article
Up All Night...My First AuSable Canoe Marathon
July 06, 2008 - My First Experience of the AuSable Canoe Marathon The world's toughest spectator race! [Bump from 2002. This year's race starts on the last Saturday of July like always. So this time it's the 26th. Get ready! Keep your eyes pealed for canoes with black covers on them being driven around the Michigan northwoo...  > Read Article
Nice Boats: They're in Sutton's Bay, MI
July 03, 2008 - We drove up to the Leelenaw Peninsula and Sutton's Bay last week to see friends and to drop off some of Martha's artwork at a couple galleries. Man, there's a lot of engaged folks up there. --Intentionally making the effort to be there and to contribute on a local scale to the localness. Whenever we visit Sutton's Bay I have ...  > Read Article
Texas Water Safari: world's toughest race---260 miles!
June 07, 2008 - Every mid-June sees hundreds of paddlesport maniacs hit a 260-mile network of rivers in Texas and race for several days. The TWS is basically the grand-daddy of the world's top 6 or so crazy paddle marathons. It's a hot event. Many racers wear trademark white outfits. A unique kind of boat has also been developed for this ...  > Read Article
To Survivor TV: please get the paddles right!
May 11, 2008 - I've seen bits and pieces of several Survivor TV shows over the years. Martha and the kids like to watch it on my Life Studies philosophy reading night. Quite often I happen in on an episode that shows the gang paddling a canoe in some tropical setting. Every single time I've seen canoeing---at least 3 times so far---they're always u...  > Read Article
Canoe Sailing & Little Proas Ahoy!
April 07, 2008 - We have lots of little rivers here in Michigan, but lots of big lakes, too. I really like my super lightweight canoes and kayaks. I can haul em, afford em and handle em, no problem. But I'd like a little more speed and versatility. A sea kayak is a great way to explore about 10 miles in a day down a Great Lake shoreline or acro...  > Read Article
Nice Kiwi site: "Open Boat"
April 05, 2008 - Here's a nice website that celebrates the glories of the world and life of the small open boat.  > Read Article | Go to Website
The Proa: Fast for Paddle and/or Sail
March 04, 2008 - I've been following some of this year's WaterTribe race around Florida in small boats. It looks like one of the racers used the Raptor Proa pictured in this YouTube video. However, that racer dropped out. I gather that he crashed his amazing self-built tri before the race in some fashion. Then he got this proa as a replacement....  > Read Article | Go to Website
WaterTribe: friendly endurance events start next week!
February 25, 2008 - BIG RACES COMING UP! --on 3/1 The WaterTribe people have been splashing along since the beginning of the adventure-racing scene. They're mellow and all about community. Sure, the best finishers get a coveted shark tooth, but it's an "all for one" scene. They include various classes of small boats, from paddle kayaks to v...  > Read Article | Go to Website
Supercool, fast, light, compact Adventure Boat
February 18, 2008 - [UPDATE: Mark Zollitsch and Team are going to take on the UFC in his hot new compact sail tri, starting at the big start next week! This is the kind of supercool human-scale boat I'm talking about as being worth watching in action. Let's see how they do in the big race!] I really like the field of versatile compact boats tha...  > Read Article | Go to Website
Greg is at it again: Atlantic pedal-boat record
November 14, 2007 - Greg Kolodziejzyk set a new 24-hour HPV record last year. When he got done with that he started right in on a new record. He's building a boat to pedal across the Atlantic---and he hopes to get the fastest human-powered crossing record. Oh, and last year he also set the new pedal-boat solo 24-hour record of 174km---to test t...  > Read Article | Go to Website
End of Golden Age of Everyman's Sailboat?
October 29, 2007 - The Nov. 1 issue of the best yet cheapest boat mag, "Messing About In Boats," has a thought-provoking essay entitled "Is the Golden Age of Sailboats Over?" Author Dan Rogers makes the case that the late 60's and early 70's were the heyday for quality cruising sailboats that were affordable. A 25-35 foot boat sold for about $5K...  > Read Article | Go to Website
Hannu's Boatyard: A One-Sheet Plywood Boat-Building Website
October 20, 2007 - Here's a Finnish guy who has worked up a bunch of free plans for making a wide variety of boats out of a single sheet of 4x8 plywood. He also has a few boats that use more sheets, like the dory pictured which uses 3 sheets. Of course, using minimal materials is no guarantee of easy building. Fear not. Hannu keeps ease of build...  > Read Article | Go to Website
Nifty Sailing Kayak
September 17, 2007 - I love a versatile boat. A kayak with a sail option is one such critter. The Triak is a neat new offering along these lines—it has built-in outriggers—that even have lifting foils. This thing is fast and stable. There aren't many truly light, car-toppable boats that you can use to go places on big water. I find the rang...  > Read Article | Go to Website
JP's First Sea Kayak Tour!
August 08, 2007 - Wish me luck! I'm going to attend the Great Lakes Primitive Skills Gathering on Bois Blanc Island this weekend. For the first time. I've been wanting to for years. But I'm going to cheat the ferry out of $30! I'm paddling across myself. It's what I've always wanted to do. I'll start from St. Ignace, hop over to Mackinaw ...  > Read Article
Learning to Roll...Exciting Part 50 in the Saga...
July 08, 2007 - This past weekend I borrowed my friend Tim's sweet sea kayak and took it to a local lake where we were staying a few days at a friend's cottage and partying for the 4th. Actually, a pal picked it up for me. I didn't even know it was going to be there---I thought our plans hadn't gone through. But when it arrived, my heart jumped. Ya...  > Read Article
Accidentally Cool? Stand-up Paddling is Hot Right Now
June 19, 2007 - I've been interested in stand-up paddling for a few years now. I've been doing plenty of canoe poling---but I've wondered what to do when the water gets deep. Well, I found out one day while paddling on a pond: just stand up and paddle! It works great. I'm finding that I just dislike the restriction of sitting down. With stand-up po...  > Read Article
Classic Tall Ship Big Sea Footage
June 05, 2007 - I'd heard of this footage for years and now it's on YouTube. Ye olde sailor Alan Villiers wrote at least one book about his early life working aboard tall ships, as one of the last sailors of the Age of Sail. He also made an old black'n'white educational/documentary movie about rounding the Cape Horn. It's been shown a million times...  > Read Article | Go to Website
Cheap, DIY Folding Kayaks! Gorgeous, Fast, Classic...
May 16, 2007 - Mike Edelman of FoldingKayaks.org put me on to this amazing resource when I asked him if there was an affordable or DIY fold-boat option out there. I was thinking of an open canoe for our most common type of local padding and fishing but the first site Mike put me on to just blew me away. (He later told me about the tiny, ultralight ...  > Read Article | Go to Website
Light, Cheap Folding Canoe!
May 16, 2007 - If you want a compact, light boat to pack into outback locations or easily carry on a motorcycle or even bike trailer, this looks like a good one. I was looking for a folding canoe and here it is. Well, it's only 10 feet long, a solo boat and I'd like to take at least one kid along but this would work. It's only 16 pounds, too! $600....  > Read Article | Go to Website
Stand-up Paddling: Pretty Fun!
May 15, 2007 - I've long been wondering about stand-up canoe paddling. I like to get my whole body into my activities and I tried stand-up paddling a few years ago, sort of. It made me want to really try it---with a longer paddle and faster boat. See, I already love canoe poling. Even in a tippy, fast race hull. Especially! It works great for o...  > Read Article
Anyone Want a Diverse Boat Movie?
April 05, 2007 - OK, I've checked it out. A movie that celebrates the diversity of small boats doesn't exist. Anyone want to see one? Homebrew movies have to cost about $30 each. (Small market projects have way-high overhead.) Is that too much? The whitewater action scene has been done to death, literally, with hundreds of videos. And, reall...  > Read Article
The Only Sea-Kayak Videos: the culture of the sea
March 29, 2007 - Justine Curgenven produces the only line of sea-kayaking videos, "This is the Sea," vols. 1, 2, 3. They're really something! OYB isn't about the extreme, exotic, adrenaline stuff --- and the paddlesport world is full of videos about just that (whitewater dude stunt paddling). This isn't that! Justine has created a ser...  > Read Article | Go to Website
New Verlen Kruger Book: Bio of Inspiring, Innovative Adventurer
March 22, 2007 - Verlen was an inspiration for me. Here was a local guy, in his 60's, who was saying "Think big! Dream on your own!" He took risks, not to get rich, but to experience nature and learn about history and our world firsthand. He wasn't a wild radical, just an energetic guy who liked to make and work on a few things, mostly one thing: a...  > Read Article | Go to Website
Saroca! ---The "sail row canoe" boat! Sa-Ro-Ca!
September 17, 2006 - Saroca! What a clever name. As you know, I've been on the hunt for a versatile boat. Here's one that does it all! Sail, row and paddle! It looks like it has an assymmetric hull design, wider at the back, to accomodate the rearward re-weighting that the occupants do when sailing. Neat. It has hatches front and rear to...  > Read Article | Go to Website
Raiders and 50-50's: versatile boats ahoy!
September 11, 2006 - I've been on the prowl for versatile boats lately, as per previous posts here. A couple weeks ago I did a nice, sizeable day-paddle on the lovely Grand Traverse Bay. Maybe 10 miles total. It showed me yet another reason for the Versatile boat concept. But before I get into that, we used sea kayaks that day. The sea kayak...  > Read Article
Robb White: R.I.P., ya old crank!
September 07, 2006 - Well, crap, one of my fave writer heroes has died and I didn't even know it. I was going to publish a book of his columns! I still hope to... What a character! He's been writing wild, reckless, candid columns about the small boat life (and everything else) for years at "Messing About in Boats" and "WoodenBoat." He knew w...  > Read Article
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