I'd be very intersted to know where Paul kayaks in AZ. I'm originally from CO myself and spent many summers on the Colorado, Green, and Dolores in my youth (and I miss those days a bit too). Other than flat river and reserviour what does he sea kayak?

: Hi All

: In past weeks, I had a conversation with our Pheonix, Az. kayaker, Paul
: Connolly or Paul C. as he goes by. We talked about him dropping in during
: his return trip from his vacation up in Wa. state. Due to a couple of
: reasons, he has informed me that he will not be able to make that visit. I
: would like to post his letter/email to me, as a point of interest to some
: folks. It goes: Hi Larry

: Thanks for the Warning on Sequoia.

: Greetings from Orcas Island, Wa. I've been out here since Thursday- the 3rd?
: I'm building the coolest skin over frame kayak under the private tutelage
: of Skip Snaith. He has been building boats for 30 years, but, has recently
: developed significant expertise in traditional Eskimo skin over frame
: construction. With your handiman skills you could crank one of these out
: in no time. No nasty chemicals - you do have to lash the members together
: and I'm going to have to sow the skin on. We haven't made it that far yet.
: The boat is coming together beautifully, but, slowly. Some of the deck
: beams and the stem piece were fashioned from apple and cedar branches.
: Skip also has me carving things with an adze and curved knife. That and
: figuring out how to get the lashings tight has taken me some time.
: Luckily, Skip is a good teacher and patient. I also let him do a few
: things when I was getting too worn out. I have really been putting the
: hours in. We've only been out paddling once so far, but, hopefully that
: will change. The Juan de Fuca Straight and all these islands are pretty
: impressive stuff. The water is clear and cold and filled with sea mammals
: and weird purple starfish.

: If you are interested in his techniques, many are described in is recently
: published book on Umiaks. These are big open boats used by Eskimos to haul
: their family stuff around in. They mostly used kayaks for hunting and men
: stuff. He is planning to publish two more books pretty soon, one about how
: to make an Aleut Baidarka, like the one he is helping me build, and the
: other on Bering Sea style. He has spent several winters up in Alaska
: helping the villagers rediscover the craft of traditional kayak building.
: He learned it by reading anthrological studies about them. I guess a few
: elders ( in their eighties ) still remember, but, not much.

: Then Paul just talks about going home after this. I just thought you all
: might be interested. I thought it a kool letter and it sounds like he is
: having too much fun. Sounds like one heck of a vacation. He will probably
: be at Port Townsend this weekend and you can quiz him there. He was to
: stop down here on the way home and visit the Sequoia Natl. Park but, it's
: going to be still burning then, so.....?? David Barrett and I were both
: lookin' forward to the visit, but, it's kool that he's having fun up
: there. I look forward to hearing more about his building experience up
: there in future posts. Later,

: Rehd