I have been following this bulletin board for almost two years now and am always amazed at the little global community that has developed. People from the US, Canada, Australia, Norway, Sweden, and Germany coming together around a common interest in kayaks seems like a great use of the Internet. Many times this board feels like being in a small town where people lend a hand and discuss town politics at the general store. And like the town there is a culture and history that is not always evident to the casual visitor.

As they say in sports “you can’t recognize the players on the field unless you buy the program” I thought I would jot down some of my observations and highlights from visiting this site.

Town Characters - I think I could use some of you in a novel

Nick Shade – The kindly town mayor…always has some sensible advice for the residents. Has a real “don’t worry be happy” attitude in his advice to first time builders when they panic.

Robert Woodward – AKA Woody – writes great trip reports from Washington DC. You can even follow along with attached GPS maps. We all cheered when he finally got his roll down.

Brian “Swiftwood” Cunningham – Mr. sailing kayak – wins the “built it in my apartment” and still got my deposit back” award. Never fails to attach a link and/or picture to every post

Paul G. Jacobson – Man, if you want detail on any subject this guy produces volumes. I don’t know where he gets the time to document the 4 different ways to do anything with 37 step instruction on each.

Mike Allen – A great lateral thinker who should be patenting the ideas on the doodles that he posts.

George Roberts – The town curmudgeon and resident engineering legend – never fails to keep things lively and is the only guy who regularly generates 30-40 responses to his posts on testing, resale value, side by side test crash challenges. I hope he never stops posting. It’s just too fun to watch the food fights that ensue every time he gets into an argument.

Sean Baker – The landlocked kayaker from Montana – answers a lot of questions

Don Beale and Mike Scarborough – Not sure what to say but these guys sure answer a lot of questions and throw out a lot of ideas

Mike Hanks – resident skin on frame expert

Mark Kanzler – Used to post 10 a day and could find anything on the net – Now like Dr. Livingston is lost in deepest darkest rural America with no Internet access.

The Great Debates - Many a post has been has been devoted to these subjects

- CLC vs Pygmy – Like the Catholics and Protestants this argument will be going on for centuries

- Testing or my boats stronger/lighter than yours – George vs the world

- Resale Value – George vs the world

- Staples vs No Staples

- To seal coat epoxy or not

- Epoxy vs Tight bond glue between the strips

- Flush Hatches – there are 50 ways to leave your lover but 100 ways to do hatches

- What boat should I build posts....well it depends but.....

And other discussions too numerous to mention

I can truly say that I have learned more from following this discussion than I ever could from 10 years of trial and error. And to all the others who documented their experiences thanks.

Jack Sanderson