>In that vein, here's my "profile:" I do not remember a time when I did not paddle boats. I started out in canoes. My father's idea of a good vacation was to go some place where there put-ins for the canoe. We paddled on lakes around New England and in the ocean in Connecticut and Maine. When I was about 12, my father got a little kayak kit which he built. Unfortuantely, my brother being older, he got to use the kayak most of the time. W About the time I got out of college, my parents bought a piece of land on the coast of Maine. The canoe and my father's little kayak, and a fiberglass white water kayak I got second hand worked OK for exploring the area, but I needed a more suitable boat, and "Small Boat Journal" was full of these things called "ocean kayaks" which seemed perfect for what I wanted to do. Having little money and no idea where to find an ocean kayak even if I could afford one, I decided to build one. Perusing through Small Boat Journal, I decided on what seemed like likely dimensions, drew something up and built it. It was great. (At least relative to what I had been paddling before) I shortly had a job as an electrical engineer which was not as mentally stimulating as I would have liked, and I was out growing my first effort, so I occupied my mind with drawing new "better" designs. I continued working as an engineer as I developed boats to match my evolving paddling skills. Springs and summers were spent paddling, falls spent designing new boats and winters and springs spent building the designs. I started selling some of my designs as a hobby. The engineering job moving to a different state and meeting the woman I would marry, helped me make the decision to take the hobby full time. Part of the goal during this period was to write a book about how to build kayaks. Cathy and I got married and I continued to work on the book. Cathy died, and I finished up the book. Working on getting the book to book stores and other ventures for the past year and a half has limited my on-the-water time and I am currently working to rectify that problem. My current paddling tastes run from low-key gunkholing in sheltered esturaries to surfing post-hurricane waves, Long Island Sound in sight of NYC to down east Maine where seeing someone else in a kayak is still a minor event, and I also get in a little white water between running a business and the saltwater paddling. Nick Nick Schade Guillemot Kayaks 10 Ash Swamp Rd Glastonbury, CT 06033 (860) 659-8847 Schade_at_guillemot-kayaks.com http://www.guillemot-kayaks.com/ >>>>"It's not just Art, It's a Craft!"<<<< *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Mon Feb 08 1999 - 07:45:37 PST
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