Launchings

Elizabeth Shay of Pocatello, Idaho, is very lucky to have Paul Shay as her grandfather. Paul built Elizabeth a canoe of her very own, a 10′ Nymph designed by Nick Schade.

James Ford of the Madison School District in Madison, NY, wrote to announce two launchings by their high school technology class, an 8' pram and a 16' canoe. Clark Craft of Tonawanda, NY, designed the pram, while the canoe is a John Scalzo design.

Jeff Parker recently launched this cypress and mahogany Petrel Kayak in Lake Bluff, Illinois. The 53 lb Petrel Kayak is designed by Nick Schade, who runs Guilllemot Kayaks, www.guillemot-kayaks.com.

I built this Eastport Ultralight dinghy (from Chesapeak Light Craft) to get to a mooring on Sengekontacket Pond, in Edgartown, Massachusetts.

This is an Arrow 14 geodesic canoe designed by Platt Monfort. I used spruce for the stringers, gunwhales, and rub rails, oak for the ribs, cutwaters, and keel, mahogany for the breasthook and knee stems, cherry for the gussets, and maple for the thwarts. The skin is 30 gauge vinyl.

Rob Wybierala enjoyed building this San Juan Dory so much; he stopped going to work so he could finish it. Now he owns a small boatbuilding company in Maryland. GRIFF'S LANDING is built of plywood with sawn frames.

Originally launched June 25, 2005, this Cosine Wherry needed a refresh. The sliding seat was removed and a more traditional interior was installed this summer. Two cedar strip buoyancy tanks were added, along with many coats of varnish and new oars from Barkley Sound Oar & Paddle.

Lee Sandifur built KARI-SAN (15'2" x 4'10") from plans by Samuel Devlin using stitch-and-glue construction. He launched her in Olympia, WA on August 18, 2001. She carries a 13' long mast, which he built of Alaskan cedar.

BLACKFIN is a Pilgrim Pride 16 center console skiff designed by Paul Bennett of Shoe String Shipyard. Brothers Michael and David Hitt built it at David's home in Annapolis, MD, and launched BLACKFIN in October of 2001. The construction is of epoxy-covered plywood.

Customized Wee Lassie IIThe canoe was built in 2009. The overall dimensions are of the Wee Lassie scale with the modification made adding 1″ in height to the gunnel. Length 13′4″.The hull is made from Western Red Cedar in continuous strips (not scarf jointed from smaller pieces).