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Missing the point. Freestyle is about better boat control, through improved paddle physics, thoughtful bio-mechanics and changing hull shape in the water. The interpretive gig was interesting for a while and may be again, with better athletes, but it is an extension of FreeStyle skills beyond...

JFC! Bell dealers in Upstate NY don't count because the hulls haven't been made in a while. Colden and Hemlock are direct to the public builders. NorthStar sells through Oak Orchard Lake George Kayak and Raquette River. Swift is available through Bay Creek, Raquette River, Adk Lakes and Trails...

There aren't many solos build for bigger guys. The larger amongst us tend to sit to remove pressure on the knees but compromising stability and control. Foot pegs/braces help but we need hulls wider than 30" with tumblehome to reach the water while sitting. The sitting position also compromises...

Swift's Kee 16 is slightly Swede form with differential rocker. The Curtis NorthStar, from which Eagle was splashed, is a symmetrical in hull form and rocker, so it has fuller bow quarters. Properly trimmed, Kee is faster and tracks better. Improper trim results in adverse performance. Bow...

Differential rocker is included in hull designs to stymy poor paddling technique, specifically the tendencies to not get the top hand outside the rail, directing the stroke along the rail and carrying the blade behind the body. These sins are exaggerated in the sterns of tandem boats. The stern...

Glenn; The Adk event is more relaxed than the other FreeStyle Symposia. The three hour courses are grouped in three session blocks on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Wednesday is a rest and relaxation day with special topics. It would be easy to take a Cross Bow course, then switch to...

We're making final plans for the Adirondack Symposium. Uncgaracteristically, conflict has broken out this year. One of our chefs, Chris Russo, has always prepared an excellent Italian meal, but for '14 he claims an intent to switch to French Cuisine! This will be interesting, we have lots of...

The issue with Yost's shouldered tumblehome, later called the "Bell Curve" is, that while it stiffens the hull longitudinally it is a Z hinge vertically. One probably should glass all the way to the hull's edge, under the rails, which requires removing and refitting them. In a more perfect...

Not to detract from Pete's boats, but since we're being eclectic, Adirondack Canoe Company, Hemlock, NorthStar, Swift and WeNoNah also build pack canoes. Roughly, Adirondack, Hemlock and SlipStream make smaller, minimalist craft with simple outfitting; all very lightweight and portable...

Colden is a small, semi-custom boatbuilding shop South of Buffalo NY, currently making David Yost designed solo and combi canoes. All hulls are carbon/Kevlar laminates infused with epoxy/vinyl ester resin. They feature grey tones scuff patches to hide bottom scrapes and can be ordered with...

As a tandem paddlecraft's speed increases, it's functional rotational center, the loci of all forces on the hull moves forward to just behind the bow station. A bow paddler, who's stroke averages maybe about two feet from that rotational center.,\ Failure to use a vertical shaft or stroking...

Sorry for tardy reply; Thwarts: Yeah, we've found two layers are a minimum for thwarts, because despite the obvious engineering function, 250 lb guys insist on kneeling/sitting on the things, which breaks the things in the middle. SG's attachment is elegent, but i production we need a flange...

Surely NStar is a better solo boat. or tandem for that matter, than Malecite. One of the several reasons is the tumblehome that improves reach to the water, a factor exacerbated by a sitting paddlers as reach is compromised. It is no surprise that the hull flexes when a kneeling thwart is...

I think they're the same Jensen designed boat, with shear cut down and thwart lengths tweaked. It was/is an early recreational Swede-form hull with a loose stern. Mike Galt used to tell about a gal at a clinic who asked him to paddle her boat - she couldn't make it track. Turns out Mike...

Jeff; You may be interested in a compilation of solo canoe dimensions: email charliewilson77@gmail.com for the list. John Winters' Shape of the Canoe is the best hull shape treatise for paddlers, available as a CD from Redwing.

Replacing the seat dowels with trusses from Eds Canoe parts will stop much of the seat sway, tightening the bolts helps too, but Malecite started life as a short class downriver tandem racer. There are solo canoes.

A "two wave wash" refers to theoretical hull speed. As displacement watercraft speed up they generate transverse waves. As speed continues to increase the transverse waves along the hull spread apart until there are just two somewhat inboard of bow and stern supporting the hull. This is...

Hull widths; Mr Yost's Nomad, DragonFly and FlashFire, and the Peregrine that was taken from Nomad are all 28.5" wide. Bell's Merlin II was 29" and Swift's Kee 15 is 29.5. I find these facts difficult to resolve with the opinions above. The increasing width of Mr Yost's solo trippers...

Pretty nuanced differences in four boats from the same designer, with the obvious follow on why exclude Colden's Nomad and Placid's RapidFire from comparison?. We'd need to precisely compute/measure block coefficients for meaningful comparison. Kestrel started life as the Vagabond with...

My most difficult rescue was my soon to be ex mother in law. She capsized in a few feet of water twenty yards off shore wearing a PFD. I checked the life jacket's buoyancy by pushing her under several times with my paddle, then tried to unzip it to check the class and rating. She eventually...