CLC Oxford Shell II launched!

The boat kit was received as a large cardboard envelop filled with flat pieces of mostly 3mm Okoume plywood. The stitch and glue process on a 21 foot long boat forced me to be satisfied with slow incremental progress. Fortunately the well illustrated builders manual was excellent. I used unidirectional carbon fiber in some custom planned key sections to provide extra hull stiffness and efficiency. The boat weighs 40 lbs. Each time I row the finished boat now, I am amazed at the speed and glide of this boat in its response to my cruising drive strokes. It gives me that being "one with the water" feeling!  At 7 knots directly into the wind, I'm likely faster upwind than many sailboats. The first launch (pictured) was at a historic aqueduct site on the Schoharie river.