Well the kayak finally hit the water
A 19' Shearwater Baidarka Designed by Eric Schade of Shearwater Boats

I know you folks have read lots of other thank you posts on this board but now it is my turn:

It is hard to express my heartfelt gratitude with a few pecks at the keyboard, but here goes. I want to thank each of you who has read and responded to my posts along my building journey. Whenever I was unsure of how to proceed you people got me back on track, and made it possible for me to produce a better boat than I had ever imagined I was capable of building.

Thanks to Eric Schade for a great design and for being so quick to get back to me with advice, and for being such a darn nice guy to talk to on the phone, to Nick for the great site and answers to many questions, to Rob Macks for finishing advice and other advice along the way, to Valclav for all the great ideas I borrowed off his site, and to Joe Greenley for answers to my questions as well.

Below are the details of my launch. Which are posted on the trips board, if you have already read it there carry on I promise to scan pics of the launch in the next day or two.

Kayak Launch - Take 1

Sat. Mar. 17

My wife is off to the cottage about noon, leaving Keenan, my 8 year old son and I in the city to load the kayak and associated paraphernalia at a leisurely pace and head out to the lake later in the day or early the next morning. As soon as she and the other kids are out of sight Keenan and I are high five-ing in the driveway, our plan is to do some last minute shopping, take the kayak out of my workshop through the basement window(if it fits), load the kayak and our other gear, make a huge pizza from scratch and settle in and watch the semi-finals hockey game in peace and quiet(a rare thing with 4 young kids).
Grocery shopping goes without a hitch, the kayak does in fact fit out the window, whew!!, we load the kayak by padding the roof rack with a pool noodle strategically cut to cover the rack and pad the sheers and deck of the kayak. Off to HD to pick up rope for bow and stern lines as it is highway travel to the lake, found a parking spot right near the doors and was silly enough to park in it. Ran in bought rope, ran back to truck, graciously accepted the compliments on the kayak, explained building process used for the kayak to a couple who had stopped to admire it. Just finished with them when another guy comes up, then another etc etc, an hour or so later we're on our way home with visions of the pizza dough taking over the kitchen. It starts to drizzle as I pull in the driveway. Fortunately when we arrive home it(the dough) is just poking it's head out of the breadmaker for a look around. Keenan and I enjoy the pizza, the game, and the peace and quiet.

Sun. Mar. 18

Up early the next morning, it has rained all night, I bail and sponge a gallon or so of water out of the kayak( at least I know it holds water in, which is a good indication it will keep water out, I hope). Note to self, a portion of the neoprene that I have on the way will be made into a cockpit cover. Drive to cabin which is about an hour, in gusty winds, at highway speeds, the kayak doesn't' t budge, which is very comforting because I want to paddle the kayak at least once before it blows off the roof at 100 km/h. Rain and gusty winds for the rest of the day have me reading a Seakayaker Magazine in front of the fireplace for the rest of the day and evening.

Mon. Mar. 19

Up early stoked with anticipation, bail and sponge a gallon and a half of water out of the kayak. It's still raining and the winds are gusting to 60 or 70 km/h, the lake is whitecaps and big waves(by my standards anyway). Conditions remain the same for the rest of the day. The inaugural paddle will be postponed as the Baidarka with it's 21" width has me wondering how the stability will compare to the wider kayaks I am familiar with, and I don't relish the thought of a dunking in cold windy weather. I feel like such a wimp after having read so many of you fellow BBS'ers trip reports of your white knuckle adventures in wild and wooly weather conditions. Once again the kayak rides beautifully on the way home.

Tue. Mar. 20

Winds are still very gusty, but the sun is out and the temps are at or near 20C. I have committed to accompany my youngest son's nursery school to a Nature Centre just outside of Winnipeg. The trip although interesting seems to take much longer the 3 hours it lasts. The kayak is still on the roof, I drop Kelton, my 4 year old, off at home, and I'm on my way to Dave's, my paddling partners place. When I pull up his brand spanking new Chesapeake 17 LT is glistening in the sun atop his Mazda station wagon. We drive to our intended launch site on the LaSalle River which is less than a block from Dave's house, unload the kayaks and gear, take some pics of the new kayaks on the bank. Giggling like a couple of elementary schoolgirls we carry the kayaks down to the waters edge, it's rocky and muddy but we built these boats to paddle not polish, we decide Dave will go first because we expect his boat will be more stable and he can then help steady my kayak as I get in just in case my boat is really tippy. Dave lowers his kayak into the water and slides in with nary a scratch or a wobble, shucks, he just made it look too easy. I lower my boat into the water, place my newly carved greenland paddle across the rear deck and onto shore, gingerly slide into the cockpit and get settled, the boat feels like it was built for me, oh wait a minute, it was built for me
I gently push off the shore and do a few test leans. The lack of stability that I was expecting is not there, sure the boat leans easily when I lean it but it is not the least bit twitchy. Dave is also doing a few test maneuvers in his yak and reports he is happy with the feel and fit.
I take a few easy paddle strokes and the kayak feels like it jumps forward and is soon cruising easily upstream. The Baidarka seems to accelerate very easily compared to the plastic boats I am used to, I know much of it is problably in my imagination but work with me here I paddle hard for a few minutes and the boat seems to fly. Tracking is strong to very strong but the boat turns well when I lean it over or when I use extended paddle strokes. It does take some effort to turn the boat 180 degrees in the relativly narrow river but that is to be expected with the design that I chose.
Dave and I paddle upstream for about an hour to one of my favorite all season hangouts LaBarrierre Park, a place that I do lots of skiing, mtn biking, canoeing, and hiking in, it's just a few minutes from my house but once you are in the bush it's just like being in the wilderness, rarely do I see anybody else and it's a great place to get away from the rush for an hour or two. On a few of the longer more open stretches of the river where the wind is blowing hard I turn the boat sideways to the wind to see if it will weathercock or leecock. It does neither just drifts straight back with the current, it (the boat) is fairly low profile so I'll have to check the weather/leecock situation on bigger water or bigger wind. There is a dam on the river just above the park which we have no intention of portaging, we turn around. As we head downstream we both have grins plastered on our faces, the same grins we have been wearing since the paddle started, each of us has remarked at least 30 times how good the boats feel, how good the boats look, how good the boats paddle, how much fun they were to build. It got so bad that every couple of minutes one us would say "OK, OK, I know I've said this before but I just have to say it again..." and would launch in to one of the "how good it is" spiels.
All too soon the paddle was over, I had two kids to get to baseball and two others to get to soccer.

So, my initial thoughts after the inagural paddle...WOW, what a great boat. It feels, looks, and paddles better than I could have ever hoped, I had an idea in the back of my mind as to what I hoped to accomplish in each of those areas and the boat has more than exceeded my expectations. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would give it about a 17!! OK so I'm a little biased but like i said before, work with me here!

Thanks again to one and all for your advice and inspiration!!

Till next time!! Be well!!

Ken

Sorry the pic below is the only one that I have scanned of the whole boat, but it will give you a vague idea of what I am paddling. I will scan some some new ones in the next day or so and get them posted.