Kayak Building Bulletin Board

User Profile

Robert N Pruden

I began my kayaking life by lurking here, at the GBBS, absorbing all the information I needed to build. I started building my first Waters Dancing Lightning 17 in 2000 - that was before I learned to paddle. Upon completion of the above unnamed boat (first omen of bad luck), I launched her in a very wobbly and paranoid manner on the duck shilty waters of Leduc, Alberta's Telford Lake. I thought for sure that I would either roll and swim or the panels would fly apart and then I would swim. Turned out that I wouldnt' swim for another year yet, but that is another story. ( http://www.kayakforum.com/cgi-bin/Trips/index.cgi/read/2522 )

Since then I have built another Lightning 17 and have successfully used it to begin what I now call my Big River Trip. The trip is my self-defined epic Canadian seakayaking journey across Canada from the Alberta Rockies to Newfoundland. I have also built a 17' TK-1 Trainer from plans produced by Hans Friedel of Sweden. I have a 12' design produced by Chris Ostiland on the horses now and two other kayaks,a S&G and a stripper Night Heron project next in line for construction.

It's true that I hate water, but my love of where being on the water can take me keeps me paddling. That forms the basis of the "why" I am doing my big river trip. I have completed the first leg from the Alberta Rockies to North Battleford, Saskatchewan. That story is here: http://www.kayakforum.com/cgi-bin/Trips/index.cgi/read/4128 . I attempted the second leg in 2004 but very bad weather caused that trip to end prematurely at Borden, Saskatchewan. See the story here: http://www.kayakforum.com/cgi-bin/Trips/index.cgi/read/6178 I will most certainly get back and finish that leg sometime during 2008. Right now I'm fretting over an impending divorce, so long-distance paddling is not in the works at least for this year.

Once I was confident enough to begin adding to this great forum, I became a regular contributor. I am by no means expert in the kayaking fields of technique or building, and I do have to eat crow from time to time. I will say this in my defense, "I'm not the only one here who enjoys the taste of crow." Hee! Hee!

If you're ever in Edmonton, Alberta and you see a wooden kayak painted with a white graphic on the deck, trimmed in blue, red and black with a Canadian flag and a blue Fleur-de-Lis painted on the deck, that will be me. Catch me if you can and I'll regal you with my kayaking stories. As the years go by, my story library grows and the tales get longer. If you want to hear a couple, I'll light the firepit, open a couple of Guinness, you put your feet up, lean back, close your eyes and listen up.

The River Paddler

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