[Paddlewise] 2-brothers

a couple of young guys that i'm learning from are bothers (70 and 80). one
lives in Maryland, the other in Florida. each has more kayaks/canoes/bikes
than most folks ever think about. so when they do something, i watch
carefully. indeed the 1st son has been kayaking since he was 15, back then
no commercial boats were available so he made is own from vegetable crates
and canvas.

so what's new? well both have just acquired yet another boat and i had a
chance to check out what their latest water passion. since i  only had a
brief time to learn from them, i'd appreciate what folks on Paddlewise have
as follow on info.

for the young guy, he got a 'Monarch' which is a boat designed by V. Kruger
for long distance cruising.. it's a cross between a canoe and a kayak...
usually paddled with a single blade. it has a rudder... but the interesting
thing to me is that the rudder controls are by ones toes, over  solid pegs
for the balls of your feet. this set up seems to be very user friendly and
it eliminated one of my pet problems with rudder controls,  spongy foot
rests. My questions are: is this control assembly available for kayaks? if
so, which ones. and if not, why not?

for 1st son, he and his wife drove from Florida to Canada to buy a row boat.
now you can assume that this must be one nice boat.. so what is it? i read
it as 'sweet London's but i heard it pronounced as 'sweet London's.. at any
rate the boat is 17 ft, fiberglass, set up for both double or single rowers.
vee bow & stern, round/flat bottom. the boat looked very user friendly, fast
enough. sociable to the max. i learn of different oar lengths for different
seats, and oar balance for long distance cruising... i don't find a web site
for this boat. can any one help? and what are other row boats with similar
purpose.  i have to say, that this boat seems very practical/social for use
on  inland bays. and maybe a fleet is not balanced until canoes/kayaks and
row boats are all represented. any one out there been in contact with cool
row boats?

bye bye bliven


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