Dec 04, 2005
Boat maintenance and black helicopters.
Photos, videos and paddle blanks.

Nov 16, 2006. Hammerfest

As you probably know if you've been following the blog, my shop shares space with blacksmiths and metal fabricators. A few weeks back, a visiting blacksmith from Israel stopped in and the blacksmith shop put on a hammerfest. The idea was to punch a hole through a big iron bar the old fashioned way, that is with nothing but human power. One guy was holding the iron bar and the tool that would cut the hole while 4 guys pounded away with hammers.

Here the guys are milling about waiting for the iron to heat.

And here's the iron bar heating up.

And two videos of guys hammering on hot metal. Who need a gym? These videos might just download to your computers and you might have to open them from wherever they downloaded from. Otherwise, your browser might just start them right up. Who knows?

Video 1 - avi format, 1.882 Mb

Video 2 - avi format, 2.477 Mb

Nov 1, 2006. Cell Phone

I have a new cell phone and an associated contract. My land line is going away. I have been holding out for as long as possible in my luddite way.

My new number is 510-846-5488. The area code locally is known as the five and dime area code. Cute. If you're one of the people that feels the need to talk to me in person, please update your records, whatever form they might be in.

I say this because in my case contact info is scattered across about five different media. About ten years ago, I bought a rollodex, that would be just about at the end of that technology's life span, to organize my address list. As you can see, I am not an early implementor of technology. Early implementor, I don't think that's exactly right. There's a phrase in the tech jargon lexicon that applies to people who jump on new technology as soon as it comes out. I am not one of them. I got into skin boats about 5000 years after they were first introduced. Anyway, I now have a cell phone and I have entered in about a dozen phone numbers into its address list. I also have contact info in my yahoo mail account, palm desktop program and the ACT contact management system.

The problem is that most technology becomes obsolete in no time at all and typically, when you migrate to new technology, all your old data becomes useless and you have to re-enter it.

Also, here in Alameda where I live 3 miles from the Hayward fault and about 10 miles from the San Andreas fault and various distances from another 200 or so faults, there is always a real good possibility of the next earthquake crushing any technology that I might leave laying around the house.

So my high reliability, portable backup technology for storing phone numbers is 3x5 cards. They will work even if the technology doesn't. Of course, there's not much point in having phone numbers if the phone system is knocked out. We are hoping of course that post-earthquake, phone service will be restored.

Oct 31, 2006. Halloween

Sorry, no pictures. The event totally blew by me. Joan was out of town and our court has no street lights and we live at the end of it so trick or treaters don't come down here. But it's a big deal here. According to news reports, the second biggest holiday after Christmas. Second biggest by what metric, you ask. Who knows.

Oct 28, 2006. Icons

I have been burning my wolf logo into paddles that I make. Who knows if it actually looks like a wolf, but the design was originally intended to be carved and so emphasized straight lines which are easier to carve than curved lines. In any case, the design has gone through some variations, originally as a result of accident and more recently as a result of intention.

The original mouth on the wolf was horizontal and neutral. By accident the mouth on one of them turned out crooked and the wolf looked to be scowling. I liked the look and have used it a number of times.

On another paddle, I put two wolves on the loom, a wolf gang if you will.Not content to make both wolves the same, I added some variation in character. We have a cigarette smoking wolf inspired by the steel workers in my shop who all seem to smoke and also a lean and hungry overworked wolf with dark circles under his eyes.

Oct 25, 2006. TAKS 2006 - Traditional Arctic Kayak Symposium

(photo, Mark Sanders) Oct 20 through 22 we had our first annual Traditional Arctic Kayak Symposium, TAKS.Pictures will eventually be posted at the TAKS site. In the mean time, we show a few of them here.

Rather than praise the event myself, I quote Duane Strosaker, one of the attendees: "I do have to say the Traditional Arctic Kayak Symposium in San Simeon, California was the most fun I've had at a kayaking event." That kind of endorsement is hard to top. Can we make it this fun again next year? I think so. Ultimately, I think the event was so fun because of the people that came and the enthusiasm they brought with them. The fact that there was some surf to contend with also helped. Not only did the surf raise the adrenaline level, it also gave everyone a chance to pitch in and help get people on and off the beach. It created community spirit the way a snowstorm does back in the Midwest. Everyone is out in the street shoveling and when they're done with their own driveway, they help out their neighbors. And that feels good and we don't get to do it often enough.

(Photo, Mark Sanders) Here's a picture of what the surf looked like just as it's breaking. Not huge but definitely big enough to get your attention and give you a good pounding if you didn't pay attention.

The event was modelled after SSTIKS, the South Sound Inuit Kayak Symposium. John Petersen and I came up with the idea for the event while driving back and forth to SSTIKS. The drive took a day and a half and we thought that if we did something in California, people would come since they would only have to drive 3 or 4 hours instead of 15. Our intuition proved correct. Some 35 people showed up for the event, and what's best is that everyone had a good time. We also managed to get Marcus Koenen involved in the project. Marcus, a bay area kayaker teaches rolling and various Greenland techniques.

(Photo, Mark Sanders) We had the good fortune to get Dubside and his business partner, Tom Sharp to come down from Washington. Dubside competed twice in the Greenland national competion, both in rolling and the ropes exercizes. And he graced us with demos in both events. The park people wouldn't let us put up ropes on the trees at the campground so Dubside ended up doing the demo on the San Simeon pier.

Randy Monge of Orcas Island came down with a bunch of his boats and an umiak. The umiak seemed to be a hybrid between the Aleut and Alutiiq styles.

Umiaks weigh more than kayaks so here, many hands make light work.

The women's team is waiting for the right timing on the wave to jump into the boat and start paddling like crazy. (photo, Marcus Koenen)

The timing at the first attempt was off, the wave came over the bow and swamped the boat. Time to turn the umiak upside down to get the water out and right it again. (photo, Marcus Koenen)

The second attempt was successful. The team is heading out to sea. (photo, Marcus Koenen)

More pictures here by Mark Sanders.

Sep 27, 2006. Two Piece Paddles

An insistent customer persuaded me to make him a lightweight break-apart Greenland paddle with a carbon fiber ferrule. He wanted light weight and the break apart feature because he would be using the paddle with his folding boat which he takes on airplanes. The customer had to be insistent because I was reluctant to guarantee the strength of a paddle with a ferrule. Several years back at a kayak symposium, I saw someone snap a wooden paddle in two while attempting an extended paddle roll. The paddle which looked to be made of white pine with a brass ferrule broke exactly at the point where the wood met the brass. So ever since then, I didn't trust two part paddles.

Well, the paddle is done and seems pretty solid. I sandwiched spruce between two layers of white ash for the loom to add strength. I am sure that the customer will let me know how the paddle holds up.