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Of Corkys and Kayaks When last we left the Kayak Build, one boat was finished, and the other two had the ribs bent in - I'd also run out of wood for the stringers. Then I had to take a week off, during which I started building a Corky - for science, don't you know?
Friday rolled around, but I still didn't have any wood for the stringers, so I had to come up with a plan for keeping busy at the Boathouse until I could get out to the lumber mill in Siletz on Saturday. I tossed the Corky in the Subaru and headed out.
It was just a BEAUTIFUL day so I took the Elk City road - the back way - into town.
At the docks, I found Randy with his recently finished Candlefish 13 designed by Sam Devlin. He'd been out crabbing with a friend and they waited around to show off the boat. Very nice!
At the Boathouse, Tom was conducting a Kayak Camp and had a bunch of kids scurrying around. Kids? Cool!
Kinzie is Tom's primary helper, so, of course, I snagged her first. I can't even begin to express how enamored I am with that kayak.
I borrowed one of Tom's Greenland-style paddles and had Kinzie test it.
Next, Jonah jumped in - the kids REALLY liked the kayak.
Julian was next - they all remarked how, as this boat was wider than the kayaks they'd been using, it had a very nice stability to it.
Sophie hopped in for a test run - using a single paddle like the natives used to.
Mariposa (Posie, for short) was the final tester - and she also gave the boat a raving review.
On the docks, the boys figured out how they could fill their wet suits with water and get "Popeye Legs."
Tom held a graduation ceremony and the kids got their certificates of completion.
David was taking advantage of the good weather to get some Cetol on Ma Zu. Those Teak Ladies are gorgeous boats.
We were going to focus on the Corky this afternoon. Here we are making the spars for the sails. Luke was picking up the skills of a helper very quickly (and safely.)
Everybody working - it does my heart proud.
That's a nice rudder. Landon did an excellent job with the shape.
We are trying to do our best to make the Corky able to sail to windward - the original plans have no provision for a leeboard, so I wanted to try without, too, but I needed to place the mast correctly to get the Center of Effort of the sail placed correctly.
It's coming together!
Time for some frigging with the rigging. Let's get this baby splashed.
Hmmm.
Well, it doesn't actually fall over, so that's nice. Time to wrap things up for the night.
In the morning, I picked up Hal (left) and we went out to visit Curt and Terry at the Siletz Lumber Mill. They hooked us up with some long pieces of cedar to use for the stringers on the kayaks.
At the Boathouse, Hal (left, again) and I had the very pleasant surprise of meeting Doug and his children, Annaka, Luke, and Isaiah.
As Luke and Isaiah were going to be helping us on the kayaks, I made an effort to "teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea."
Doug, Annaka, and Isaiah went to breakfast, Luke stayed behind to help Landon and I rip the stringers for the kayaks.
We generated a half a garbage can with sawdust. Nice!
Visitors! David saw some people walking the docks and invited them down for a tour.
Our first kayak is a little hard to get in and out of, so I made a more modern version of a keyhole hatch. That'll work nicely.
Isaiah came back from breakfast and we got started lashing the stringers to a kayak. Here he is learning how to measure out a fathom of sinew.
Luke, Isaiah, and Landon - lash lash lash.
Friend of the Boathouse, Joe, came by to see how things were going, so I put him to work, too.
Two stringers lashed on - that's enough for today. Let's see how the Corky sails.
Hey, Luke! Ever hear of Yuri Gagarin? Ever want to be the first person to do something? Sure you do!
Out into the wind and . . . . no directional control. The Corky just went downwind like a Dixie cup.
We pulled our Yuri back in and decided "Maybe he just needs a little more time." so we moved upwind a bit.
OK, kid. You know what to do. Now go make history.
Nope, no better. Luke had just enough directional control to do a control crash into the very end of the Boathouse docks.
Landon and Isaiah effected a rescue and all was well.
Everyone safe and sound again, it was time to break out the coracles and do some paddling in a real boat.
Isaiah took a rip in the kayak
Landon was next for the kayak. He was very impressed, spun around a couple times and came back to the docks.
As Landon figured out how he was going to get out of the kayak, I was watching Isaiah get ready to go coracling.
Whoops! Another first today. That hatch is a little tight for easy entrance/exit.
Huh. I wonder if THAT'S why the bow looks like that? That's it for this week. Join us next week when we do our best to lash the rest of the stringers on the second and third kayaks.
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Bud
- the manager of the Port of Toledo and reason the Boathouse exists
- dropped by to say "Hi." One of the kids from the Kayak
Camp stayed, so now we have Luke on the staff as well. Things are
looking up.
