on


the


road


FACT: The Arctic Tern makes the longest annual


migration in the animal kingdom. Read the article. PHOTO: GINNI CALLAHAN


ing. A Pygmy Arctic Tern. Too excited to wait, I stitched and glued the middle butt joints with epoxy after only a cursory glance at the direc- tions. Ten, hmm, there was another butt joint at the bow; together it didn’t seem to fit in my 16-foot workshop. I re-measured the room. Still 16 feet. Hello? Pygmy? Do you sell different sized


Arctic Terns? Oh. I meant to order a 14-foot model. No problem, Ginni, just ship it back in the


box. Too late! Tat is how I got to build two


kayaks in one 16-foot room. And, that is when I learned that life is never the adventure we first expected. A boat is a creative extension of a life—even


if it is from a kit. Your hands make it. You rig it to your needs and tastes. My 14-foot Arctic Tern has mahogany pad eyes with a blue deck line running underneath around the perimeter of the boat. Mahogany end toggles match the pad eyes. After my latest trip to Australia, the kayak may also get a sail. For me, that little Arctic Tern opened more


doors than I thought existed in this labyrinth of life. One little kit boat project, some years playing in surf, a symposium in northern Cali-


22 ADVENTURE KAYAK | SUMMER/FALL 2010


Build the Boat I


AND THEN LET THE BOAT BUILD YOUR FUTURE


took the thin plywood panels out of the box and lined them up on the plastic floor cover-


fornia, a Welsh filmmaker… One door just kept opening to another in a dizzying maze of kayaking adventures I had never even dared to dream. Where does all that good fortune start? In a 16-foot room. Te boat-building bug may be more man-


ageable in kayak size, but of course it isn’t limited to kayakers. Go to Marina Seca in Guaymas, Mexico, and you will find a revolv- ing community of international project ad- dicts of all flavours: fibreglass, aluminum, steel, Ferro cement and wood. Pandora III, a 50-foot schooner with two broken masts and wood rot completely through is a box that should have never been opened. But there is one so smitten with her that she will be his life’s work. Tank- fully, he is still a young man. What am I doing in Marina Seca? I’m hang-


ing with another sea lover and boat artist on his steel-hulled sailboat. Instead of building a boat, I’m chopping my fibreglass Romany in half in preparation to fit it onboard to explore the world under sail and paddle. Looking back to my Arctic Tern days, I


believe: You shape the boat, then let the boat shape you.


GINNI CALLAHAN is a sea kayak guide on the Sea of Cortez, Mexico, in winter and on the Columbia River and Oregon coast in the summer. She owns Colum- bia River Sea Kayaking and Sea Kayak Baja Mexico.


1 0 S T E P S


TO BUILDING YOUR FUTURE


1. Dream it. Spend plenty of time on this.


2. Research it if that is in your nature. Read, test drive, talk to people.


3. Believe in yourself and your project. Also realize it’s going to take dedication. Set your mind to seeing it through the frustrating times and keeping your focus on the goal.


4. Gather tools and materials.


5. Begin. Be ready to learn, willing to give it more time than you thought. Be prepared to let the process take you on trips you never imagined, whether it be to the marine hardware store, or on flights of fantasy.


6. Persevere.


7. Done yet? Revisit any previous step as necessary.


8. Rig it for action. 9. Celebrate your success. 10. Paddle. Often and hard!


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48