CNC Precision Cut Parts

We're happy to be able to announce that the plywood frame components for the Greenland Style Kayak are being produced with a CNC machine (computer numerical control). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNC Beside alleviating some of the work load in our shop, the most desirable benefit to process is that a CNC machine quite simply can produce parts more perfectly than can be made by hand.

The bottom line is that the kits are produced more quickly, so that we can get them into your hands faster!

Ice Paddling on Lake Superior

To see more photos visit our Forum

We went out paddling in the ice again last week, April 21st.

Temps were in the 60's, the sun was shining, and the ice was falling.

We went south of Marquette, launched off of South Beach and paddled to the beach near the Michigan Welcome Center. Swells were one to two feet high and were reflecting off of the ice. My babysitter, Don, paddled right up along the ice foot for a while. I stayed off between twenty and one hundred yards, depending on what the waves were doing. The waves were reflecting off of the ice and coming back at the same height they went in. There was a lot of floating ice too. Sometimes it felt like we were padlding through a Margarita or a Slurpee.

I did grab a nice big piece of floating ice, very clear, to take home and use for recreational purposes. The clear ice is good if you get thirsty. The pieces have spines and other shapes sticking up, and you can just break a piece off of the top and chew on it.

The Carbon/Kevlar paddle worked very well. The hard finish was especially nice when fending off the big ice bergs floating around us.

Greenland Kayak Workshop

Build your own kayak!

Join Great Lakes Kayak and The Northwest Passage as we welcome a unique boat building opportunity presented by Black Dog Kayaks.

Designed along the lines of the traditional Greenland style kayak, with a low rear deck, hard chines, and a shallow-V hull, our low volume kayak is just the ticket for the boat builder who wants an easy-to-build, traditional looking kayak. This boat building oportunity will see you assemble the frame, sand and finish/waterproof the frame and conclude skinning under the watchful eye of a professional boat builder and designer. The result a Greenland style kayak that is a true performer - fast, lightweight, and easy to roll.

Your Greenland Style Kayak kit includes a builders guide, pre-cut and notched marine plywood frames, cedar stringers, cockpit touring ring, skinning fabric, web trim, a countersink bit and waterproof glue.

- 2008 Price: Full package: $1,100, base package: $929
- Location: Great Lakes Kayak, Lake Bluff, IL

Details
CLASS DATES (2008) - March 28-30
CLASS TIMES - All day Friday - Sunday
STATUS - OPEN Limited space

Activities: 3 day instructional session in skin-on-frame boat building.
All participants will depart with their own Greenland style kayak.
Dates: March 28-30, 2008 (All day Friday through Sunday)
2008 Price: $1,100 Full Package includes catered lunch, t-shirt, video DVD of weekend.
Base Package: $929 (boat only)
Location: Great Lakes Kayak, Lake Bluff, IL
Included in base package: One individual Greenland kayak kit, instructor, work space, equipment storage and for course duration, coffee, tea, hot water.
Full package includes: All the above and catered lunch(3 days), sponsor T-shirt, video DVD of weekend.
Not included: Transportation, drill/screwgun, a phillips screwdriver, clamps, and tape measure. Outing cancellaton insurance (please review your cancellation policy for full details) and instructor gratuity.
Suggested tools: sanding block or belt sander

Of Helmets and Reflective Tape

Everyone knows that you should add reflective tape to your gear and to your equipment to make it easier for other boaters to see you and for the Coasties to rescue you.

One of my Christmas presents that I received was a Pro-Tec helmet. Of course, I wanted to add reflective tape, but I didn't want to end up looking like a safety dork or like a Coast Guard Wannabe. So, I picked up some black reflective engineer's tape. In normal light, the tape looks like black electrical tpe. But, when you shine a light on it, it reflects back a bright white.

Definitely a safety dork. Note that this pic was taken with a flash, with no tape on the helmet.


Safety Dork in profile.


Black Engineer's tape applied, photo taken without a flash:


Same helmet, same black tape, only this time taken with a flash:




Note that you can get Engineer's tape in a number of different colors, so you add reflective safety tape to your helmet without fear of looking like a safety dork.

Safety First

Since we went down to Chicago in October for the Geneva Kayak KayakFest, we've been following the Chicago kayaking scene. Through links to Chicago area newspapers we received yet another grim reminder that our sport of choice can kill. A local man on his first paddle, in his first kayak, found that out the hard way at the end of October when he disappeared in Lake Michigan. His kayak and his PFD were found, but he was not.

Kayaking is an easy sport to get into. Naturally, we at Black Dog Kayaks encourage everyone to take up the sport, whether they buy one of our kits or buy another kayak. But we also cannot underscore enough the necessity of having the proper safety equipment and the training to use it.

No matter what your skill level, you can have an accident. The difference between the accident becoming a tragedy or just a thrilling campfire story is often dependent on prior preparation.

One more thing before I quit preaching at you - wear your PFD!

CASKA Safety Page

Sea Kayaking Safety & Rescue

Sea Socks

The Black Dog SeaSock is made from durable, waterproof, urethane coated packcloth. Features include sewn and taped seams and frame straps to keep the fabric off of your legs.

Whether you paddle a Skin On Frame or a rigid hull, the Black Dog Sea Sock also helps to keep your kayak clean. After a day of paddling, simply remove the sea sock, turn it inside out, and rinse it off. Sand and dirt stay in the sock, instead of in your kayak!

$129.99 plus shipping.

The Black Dog Sea Sock in its stock form fits cockpit coamings up to 34 inches long and 21 inches wide.

If you need a custom size, Contact Us and we will make a custom sea sock that fits your coaming at no extra charge! Other colors may be available, just ask.

Geneva Kayak October KayakFest

ChicagoMark and I attended classes at the KayakFest at Geneva Kayak today, beginning at 7am for their Saturday morning Kayak & Coffee paddle. They paddle a couple of miles up the river, have some coffee, then paddle back to Geneva Kayak. It was a good time. I met Bill from the QajaqUSA BBS, Mike, Dave and Tom, and several other enthusiastic paddling java junkies.

Then it was back to Geneva Kayak for classes at 10am. The first class we attended was on the water, Weird Strokes, taught by Jim T., a multiple whitewater kayak national champion and a judge at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, GA. This guy was just incredible on the water. He would drop his paddle in the water, do whatever it was he had to do, then somehow get the kayak back to the paddle and casually pick it up. The first time we saw him today, he paddled up to the edge of one of the Fox River dams and shoved a large tree branch, which had been hung up on the edge of the dam, over the edge.

Our next class was Kayak Safety, with Paul R., who is somewhat famous for his attempted crossing of Lake Michigan in 2006. I'll let you find the news story yourself. He and his paddling buddy completed the crossing earlier this year. It was a very informative class from a guy who had been there and back.

The next class, Stroke Analysis, was attended by ChicagoMark while I played hooky from the Dryland Rolling class. After that I hopped back onto the water to get ready for the Forward Stroke class, also taught by Jim.

Again, I can't say enough about this guy. He's an iron man. He was on the water for hours at a time teaching classes. During the class, the wind began blowing upstream, raising waves up to one foot and actually giving us some surfing pushes as we paddled upstream. Paul gave us some good tips and analysis on our forward stroke on the way back. Navigation Class with Chris followed that. We learned how to read charts and to triangulate our position using two compass readings and your chart.

Through the window, I noticed a young couple checking out the Greenland Style Kayak. I hoped that they wouldn't leave before the class ended. After class, I went out to find that it was a guy with whom I'd been emailing over the past weeks about our kayaks. We had some great kayak talk, then I had to run to the next class, Winter Paddling.

In Winter Paddling, Ryan showed us all the gear needed for winter paddling and gave us a lot of good tips on paddling in the cold. Mark and I had to leave after the last class, but everyone else enjoyed a catered barbecue dinner.

We had a great time at KayakFest. Thanks to Ryan and all of the instructors for providing us with great, FREE instruction.