I launched my Great Auk today. There were no surprises. Nick's designs always work. This is my second kayak of Nicks design that I have built, the first being a Guillemot 17 and am very pleased with both. Thanks Nick.

The Great Auk tracked great and is pretty fast. Several people tried it out and all were pleased with the way the boat handled. Nick, one of the ladies that paddled the Auk was the one who emailed you about the sit-on-top wood strip. She said it was like paddling a Cadilac. Maybe we could talk her into building herself a sit inside yak.

I used cypress for this kayak and like others found it somewhat splintery. It turned out OK though. It is kinda a light honey brown color. One of the problems with the cypress that I have is there is very little color variation. I had a few strips of reddish brown, but not enough to do anything with. This started out as my fishing boat and I was not going to make it fancy so I wouldn't mind drilling holes for rod holders, bait buckets, etc. But something happened about halfway through building the yak--we bonded . Now I am thinking a sit-on-top rod holder, no live bait and stuff. No pictures yet.

Thanks again Nick, for opening up the world of building wood strip kayaks for me. I could hardly sleep last night for thinking of launching my new kayak, and remember its the second one I have launched. It keeps this 60 year old feeling young.

Thanks to all you people on this bulletin board too. You have been an inspiration and very helpful. Wish I lived close enough to you guys to make it to some of the gatherings . Maybe some of y'all could come to Charleston Canoe and Kayak Festival next spring,( If it was up north or out west it would be called a symposium. Charleston changed the name because they thought symposium was turning people off. Go figure?) How about it Nick, come down and sell some stuff. CLC always comes down and one guy from GA has wooden boats.

One more thing and I will hush. If you are a lurker out there, trying to decide whether or not to build a wood strip kayak, DO IT!

Ronnie