Hi All,

I am back from a wonderful trip to MN's BWCA. It is beautiful country.

My self designed 12' kayak, using the free Bear-Boat design program, is just terrible in its tracking, especially when loaded and with the wind and waves coming from the rear. About 10 paddle strokes and it goes out of control and wants to swing around. Because of this, I cut my longer trip plans down quite a bit. Maybe with every ones help I can fix this somewhat, later this fall or winter. My kayak did get nice comments about its looks everywhere I went and I ran into quite a few people that told me they build strip-built canoes, but only seen one. I was carrying so much stuff in my little boat that I had to paddle with my legs on top of the deck. On the other hand I felt safe and stable in wind and white cap waters. The water was very warm and I need not have taken my wet suit but early spring would be another story.

I have a log of my trip but it would be off topic here. I did see two Wolves and two mature Bald Eagles. Quite a thrill. Great country.

I will need advise about fixing dings, and scrapes after I recover from the trip. I'm not as young as I thought I felt.

John