Tony,

Congratulations! Isn't it a great feeling to finally get the boat in the water after all those months of working on it? I truly hope you will get as much enjoyment from your boat as I have from mine. I was just reminiscing today about those white-knuckle first days in the boat -- it won't take you long to become accustomed to its "tippiness". Looking forward to hearing more of your continuing kayaking endeavors...

-John D.

: Hello all!
: Well, I've been looking forward to using the "Launching:" heading
: from the post new message pull down menu and I finally made it!

: Actually this post is a little behind the times. Hurricane Isabel visited and
: caused a two week postponement in launching. The first launch was on
: October 4th. I have been a little under the weather and bogged down at
: work since then and was unable to get my pics posted until now.

: Many, many thanks to Nick Schade for maintaining and sponsoring this great
: forum. Thanks also to the many forum participants and their own kayak
: building websites. I did a mammoth amount of research and lurking on these
: informational sites. Special thanks to everyone who took the time to chime
: in on my questions and helped me through this process. Thanks to John
: Doornink for measuring the cockpit size of his Cunningham S&G so I could
: compare it to my intended cockpit size.

: So I have made the journey from a kayak curious person to a first time kayak
: builder, new wood kayak owner and learning paddler. Thanks for helping
: make that possible.

: The link below has a few pictures of my first launch and my kayak truck rack.
: Also I have some blurb written about my experience. I also have a small
: page with some building pics at
: http://www.accuratedrafting.com/tw_kayak_build1.htm

: I do still have some work to do on the kayak but didn't want to wait until it
: was finished for a first launch. The weather would have been too cold for
: a newbie such as myself. I can't wait till Spring '04. I plan to do a lot
: of paddling.

: I don't have plans for a new building project....yet. I figure I have plenty
: of paddling experience to gain and a nice wobbly boat to grow into.
: However, I have sparked my woodworking neighbor's interest in building a
: strip canoe. I guess maybe he could twist my arm to lend a hand here or
: there.

: --Tony