This is the Cape Ann Storm finished in September 2009.
Below is the Cape Ann Expedition finished in 2007
These boats started from plain old boards from my local lumber yard, but the instruction manual by the designer Vaclav Stejeskal http://oneoceankayaks.com/ is excellent and easy to follow. Overall the experience was very enjoyable and I look forward to building more boats. I like to discuss wooden boat building. If you embark on a project and have questions, I would be happy to answer. Contact me at jerry at mesastate.edu
June 9, 2007: Paddled Cape Ann Expedition 15 GPS miles down the Colorado River (Redlands to Loma) in 1 hour 30 min with average speed of 9.1 MPH (max speed 12.4) with streamflow 8,270 cfs.
June 16, 2007: Paddled Cape Ann Expedition 25.26 GPS miles down the Colorado River (Loma to Westwater through Ruby and Horsethief Canyons) in 2 hours 47 min with average speed of 9.1 MPH (max speed 12.4) with streamflow 10,200 cfs.
NOTE. Bow of boat pounded four or five foot waves like a motor boat (bam bam bam). Never came close to having a wave hit me in the chest. Speed relative to waves about 10 MPH. How to paddle this boat through strong whirlpools at Black Rocks unknown, so I paddled slowly, but forward speed still around 8 MPH. Long bow of this boat sticks pretty hard in swirls and eddies of pushy water.
2008-2009: I paddled this kayak in races on Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, and Lake Dillon. Never finished worse than second in my class at each race.
Below is cedar strip raft built in 1994 for racing in the Delta Crazy Raft Race
This was my first cedar strip boat. The construction was crude, minimal, and as cheap as possible including cheap polyester resin. We didn't even fiberglass the inside of the hull. At the start of the race we took off so fast that we left Marci on the bank so we had to go back to get her. In the chaos we got hit by another raft (not Marci's fault) and we started taking on water. Our raft's unsinkable design was modeled after the Titantic with multiple bulkheads. One chamber flooded while the others remained dry until the water flowed over the top of the bulkhead and into the next chamber and so on. Fortunately, we thought enough to fill our raft with experienced canoe racers (ringers?) who propelled us to the finish line before we sank and ahead of all the other rafts except one. Great fun!
The Crew: Cap Allen, Dan Carroll, John Kent, Jerry Nolan, Marci Nolan, John Walker
