: I have been giving serious consideration to a really fast boat, got
: lotsa friends who are in surfskis and K-1's. I'm not entering
: races, but I habitually paddle as though I am. Lately I've been
: looking at long skinny boats like the Pax 20 and Mystery, and
: have been caught inspecting the wooden surfski thread. I'm not
: thrilled with skis because I cherish the versatility of a sea
: kayak -- namely, I can stop and fish out of it if I want. Main
: requirements are that whatever I get into had better be able to
: handle lumpy water, cuzz that's what we gots around here, and
: I'm as hopeless a rolling freak as ever.

: Meanwhile .......... I set out on a search for a set of Bobby
: Curtis Sea Spirit plans a couple years ago, and scored. The new
: friend I gained sent me his old set, but with emphatic urgings
: that I build a biadarka instead, as that is what he did and now
: his whole tribe is going that way because it does everything the
: Sea Spirit did only better. You can bet I'll soon be writing him
: again, but I believe it was Rob Mack's Shooting Star he was
: talking about.

: Which sounds especially enticing since I'd much rather have a boat
: with 700 to 7000 years of tradition, if not outright R&D,
: behind it. So curse you, now I have to get all excited about a
: freakin' baidarka. I've been resisting this since 2004, so
: thanks a lot pal. Grumble, grumble. Sheesh, next thing you know
: I'll have to carve one of those weird Aleut paddle things,
: phooey!

: Etienne is as big a stinker as you, by the way. That build log of
: his is doing me in. I'd hate him for it, except he calls Rob
: Macks a "cunning bastard". Hard to stay mad at a guy
: who makes you giggly.

Whew......he didn't blame me who started the thread in the first place .

Even though I'll build the baidarka I still lust after a long skinny race type kayak or ski, of course I have the cat-kayak to finish this winter that will do this nicely and is about 3/4 built. And while it's a cat it's still about as stable as an older K1 (ie: not very).

Bill H.

Bill H.