It is interesting to read this thread, many of the comments do indeed reflect why my father and I offer the plans for the Shrike for free. One part of the thread is worth exploring more, that of support; does paying for a set of plans mean that you will instantly have access to great support as you develop your kayak? My professional experience has been that the quality of support has nothing to do with its cost and instead relates to the passion and enthusiasm of those that are supporting a project or product, plus the quality of support will probably vary proportionally with the experience of the supporter. I would challenge anyone to find greater passion for support than my father's free support, not saying there isn't better out there but free and good support are not mutually exclusive.

We chose very deliberately to release our Shrike plans in the greatest detail possible, digitally, under a creative commons license that explicitly allows derivative works. We don't feel we own these designs we simply had the wonderful task of taking generations of qajaq development in Greenland and converting it into an alternative method of construction so that we and then others could cheaply and simply build great kayaks.

Both of us (my father and I the founders of CNC Kayak) have income sources outside of kayak plan development and distribution, we don't need to make money for what is in reality one of the ways we both derive pleasure; through the creation of beautiful kayaks by ourselves and others. I have experienced the same questions about offering free Greenland rolling mentoring, my teaching must suck because I offer it for free right? Its free because I want to help as many people as I can learn to roll in the ways of the Inuit because I don't want these skills to vanish from our collective paddling consciousness. I would like the skills to continue to be an integral part of what it means to paddle kayaks. But if you want or need to charge to teach I understand and appreciate the job you are doing to propagate the passion, there is nothing mutually exclusive about free that prevents charging from being okay too.

Disclosure: I represent CNC Kayaks, and Qajaq Rolls, both not-for-profit ventures that distribute plans, books, dvd and materials for the development of traditional Greenland kayaks and paddling/rolling skills.