Halloween Pumpkins 2010

Pumpkins carved from Left to Right by James, Dave and Gib.

Adirondack Guideboat First Launching

Today I launched the Adirondack Guideboat for the first time at Union Lake in Millville, NJ. I got together with Steve from work. His blue kevlar guideboat is pictured next to mine. We had a great time rowing and it was a beautiful fall day at the lake. This was our 3rd annual October row where we get together for a little friendly rowing competition. My guideboat did a little better job keeping with Steve and his guideboat than last year with my Natoma skiff. I am very pleased with my new guideboat and it is a pleasure to row. The glide between row strokes is what I expected and the boat tracks very straight. The fixed pin 8' oars make a big difference in speed and performance too. I still have more to learn in rowing this craft, but the launching was a great success. It is fun to be taken back in time to row a boat with a hull design that was designed more than a century ago. It was built differently back then of course, but the hull shape and weight are essentially the same.

Adirondack Guideboat Finished

A long time has passed by again since my last post, but I have been busy working on completing this boat. My initial plan was to build a "quick and dirty" hull to see how this hull design was. That plan was last November 2009. As the build progressed and more hours were put in, the boat became more than just a fast build. Eleven months later, she is ready to row. I figure it was about 5-6 months of build time because I did not do anything during the winter months. My garage is just too cold in wintertime.

I built her to match as close as I could to Steve Kaulback's kevlar design. She has not been in the water yet so I don't have any water shots. Next week I will. I am also going to put together all of my building photos in Flickr. I can't wait to see how she rows!