wore you out??? Sounds like you must have had a good time,,challenging,no? the teaching part I mean. I was so far out of my comfort zone for an ICE that my teaching technique for doing a high brace was "...uh,,do this...and that..." Something about 46degree air and water with all those folks gave me stage fright.

The negative response from some shops was surprising given that they were either getting a customer new to sea kayaks through the building of one or a familiar customer getting more gear. It's not a competing product otherwise shops would be selling wood boats if customers really wanted a wood boat in the same way they want a carbon/kevlar whatever.
What's a Flathead Paddlefest? Now that I think of it it's natural for there to be purely retail oriented events with the R2K2, NewFound and misc. boat shows taking up the builders venues. BUILD ON!