Charles E. Leach

My first kayak build was a Guillemot for my wife. She's constructed of white pine, red oak, Douglas fir, and, of course, western red cedar. I cut the strips from locally purchased lumber on a bandsaw and milled the bead and cove on a homemade router table. For directions, I used only "The Strip Built Kayak" by Nick Schade and the "KBBB" also supplied by Nick. I lofted the forms from the table of offsets in Nicks book. This is a very good choice for a first effort. Her name is "Arcturus".

The Guillemot "L" was my second kayak building effort. This is Uncle Nicks Guillemot design for the "L"arger kayaker. This time I bought Nick's plans instead of lofting the forms myself. She's made of bead and cove strips from locally bought lumber, which I milled in my garage. The hull is WRC and the deck is white pine and black walnut. The sheer strips and keel/stems are walnut also. Maiden voyage was on the Gunpowder River in Baltimore.

Using the knowledge gained building my two Guillemot designs, I set out to design and build a kayak for my Daughter. After many hours on the computer and a few month in my garage "Restless Wind" was completed. She's of the Swede hull form, 17'x19", recessed cockpit, and a low rear deck. I held the keel down a little farther to the rear than the Guillemot to tighten the tracking. The pic was launch day on Kingsley Lake in Florida.