Bryan,

Congratulations!!!

That stain colour looks awesome under the epoxy and glass - 'bloody-well done'

kelly t

: We launched the Iggy today. The good old Lake Superior was pretty calm today
: with 1' rollers coming in from the southeast. So, we took the boat down to
: a friend's kayaking shop in town. Launched out without much fanfare. The
: boat turned lots of heads as we paddled around Artist's Point in Grand
: Marais. We made our way into the harbor and past the Coast Guard station,
: landed at the North House Folk school. There I answered a few questions
: about the kayak, and we got a friend to leave the very busy desk to come
: out and look at the boat.

: The design is based of the 1959 Ken Taylor kayak. This is the kayak that
: spawned the Anas Acuta. The deck is my own design, the cockpit modern.
: It's built with western red cedar dyed blood red. The coaming and hatch
: recesses are carbon fiber. The hatches, air and water tight, are
: Kajaksport. The original kayak had a skeg-like feature, which I kept, but
: was removed from the AA. I also added a wire controlled skeg which I
: offset from the centerline. Happy Bottom seat with a foam pillar backband.

: The boat paddles great. I built it for Ilena and she weighs 130. She loved
: it. I noticed that it takes off very quickly and hold a nice cruising
: speed, and we finally have a kayak that she has no problem keeping pace
: with me in. It turns very easily, is easy to roll, and fits my size 11
: feet. Still, at my 190 pounds, I'm a little too heavy for it. Ilena said
: that she was able to catch a few waves very easily in it.

: So, far it is a highly recommended design for a smaller paddle, which is the
: same praise given to its commercial counterpart. I've modified the deck
: design slightly after building it. I like the knee bumps that I added, but
: really this kayak is for someone smaller, so the knee bumps shouldn't be
: needed. I might even consider using an elliptical deck if I built it
: again. I can't wait to see how it does as the season moves into fall.