[Paddlewise] Photo of me on Craigslist

Pam and I regularly send each other craigslist ads; I send her ads featuring
motherships and she sends me ads featuring kayaks. The other day she sent me
this ad: http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/boa/1070530687.html which caught
my attention because my picture is in it. I'm in the white kayak wearing the
yellow helmet.

The photo was taken about 1 mile south of my house at a public launching
ramp on Moses Lake on a cold sunny day (35F air and 32.5F water). The kayak
is one designed and built by Noy who used to build the kayaks for Matt Broze
of Mariner Kayaks. He asked me to meet him at the launch ramp and try out
his own designs. Since I'm familiar with his work (Noy's fiberglass work is
flawless) and have been encouraging him to start building kayaks again
(although I wanted him to build the Mariner Coaster and Mariner Express) I
thought it would be a good idea to go check his boats out.

I should say here that I have no pecuniary interest in Noy's kayaks. He and
his family moved here when he took a job with a company that was designing
and building powered surfboards. That company closed its doors two weeks
ago. He has a garage full of boats and each and every one of them is
beautifully made. I like Noy and I like his work and thought I'd mention his
work here.

My impression of the white boat (I paddled two of them) is that it's very
much like a combination of a Mariner Express and a Mariner Coaster. On edge
the boat is nimble and carves sweetly but when held level it holds its
course with only a slight tendency to weathercock in a 15-kt breeze. And I
suspect that even that was because I had to get the backband all the way to
the rear seat coaming in order to get in easily (with my bad leg). Once I
was in and settled (in my new drysuit) I was immediately at ease in the
boat. Like a Coaster, it's a boat that you could put a 7-year-old in one day
and take to Puget Sound the next. It was such a nice boat that I spent 15 or
20 minutes just tooling around in it. It would have been even more fun if
the temperatures had been warmer as I was somewhat reluctant to risk going
over in water that froze over later that night.

Sue's Nimbus Solander was one of the kayaks burned up in the shop fire a few
weeks ago and I am going to get her into this white boat and see how she
likes it.

So if you've ever wondered what I look like you can see me here. Of course,
you can't see me very well. That's probably for the best. :)


Craig Jungers
Moses Lake, WA
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