Hi All

In past weeks, I had a conversation with our Pheonix, Az. kayaker, Paul Connolly or Paul C. as he goes by. We talked about him dropping in during his return trip from his vacation up in Wa. state. Due to a couple of reasons, he has informed me that he will not be able to make that visit. I would like to post his letter/email to me, as a point of interest to some folks. It goes:

Hi Larry

Thanks for the Warning on Sequoia.

Greetings from Orcas Island, Wa. I've been out here since Thursday- the 3rd? I'm building the coolest skin over frame kayak under the private tutelage of Skip Snaith. He has been building boats for 30 years, but, has recently developed significant expertise in traditional Eskimo skin over frame construction. With your handiman skills you could crank one of these out in no time. No nasty chemicals - you do have to lash the members together and I'm going to have to sow the skin on. We haven't made it that far yet. The boat is coming together beautifully, but, slowly. Some of the deck beams and the stem piece were fashioned from apple and cedar branches. Skip also has me carving things with an adze and curved knife. That and figuring out how to get the lashings tight has taken me some time. Luckily, Skip is a good teacher and patient. I also let him do a few things when I was getting too worn out. I have really been putting the hours in. We've only been out paddling once so far, but, hopefully that will change. The Juan de Fuca Straight and all these islands are pretty impressive stuff. The water is clear and cold and filled with sea mammals and weird purple starfish.

If you are interested in his techniques, many are described in is recently published book on Umiaks. These are big open boats used by Eskimos to haul their family stuff around in. They mostly used kayaks for hunting and men stuff. He is planning to publish two more books pretty soon, one about how to make an Aleut Baidarka, like the one he is helping me build, and the other on Bering Sea style. He has spent several winters up in Alaska helping the villagers rediscover the craft of traditional kayak building. He learned it by reading anthrological studies about them. I guess a few elders ( in their eighties ) still remember, but, not much.

Then Paul just talks about going home after this. I just thought you all might be interested. I thought it a kool letter and it sounds like he is having too much fun. Sounds like one heck of a vacation. He will probably be at Port Townsend this weekend and you can quiz him there. He was to stop down here on the way home and visit the Sequoia Natl. Park but, it's going to be still burning then, so.....?? David Barrett and I were both lookin' forward to the visit, but, it's kool that he's having fun up there. I look forward to hearing more about his building experience up there in future posts. Later,

Rehd