words readers Hey, that’s my land


I very much enjoyed the article by Conor Mihell about “The Adventures of a Buck Finn” (Summer 2006). He goes to some detail describing my camp location and ref- uge harbour that I have on Swede Island east of Thunder Bay. My camp is on Crown land and I’m just a “squatter” with a “Har- bour of Refuge” permit—which means I’m the chief caretaker of the place. I’ve always left it open to all and, in the last few years, it has been used by kayakers from all over the world. Thank Conor for such a nice article and tell him that even an English/ Dutchman can build a Finn steambath.


ROG BAILEY Thunder Bay, ON


Hey, that’s my life


I just came across your article on sea kay- ak history in North America, “The Early Years” (Summer 2004). Great article and a stroll down memory lane. I could have writ- ten that article myself—it’s as I remember it. I worked at Nimbus with Steve Schleicher in the early ‘80s and built the plugs to be moulded for the Seafarer K2, Solander and Seafarer Sprint. I left there to circumnavi- gate Vancouver Island in June ’84. Mike Neckar was actually in Garibaldi


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not Garibaldi Highlands (part of Squamish today). Garibaldi was a collection of cab- ins on the railway between Whistler and Squamish. They were moved because the government had concerns of a landslide if the Black Tusk Barrier ever gave way. They were given land in a less desirable spot up the road. Old moulds sat abandoned there in a cabin for years. John Dowd prior to opening Ecoma-


rine in Vancouver had a survivalist store on Broadway around Main where you could buy five-gallon pails of freeze-dried foods and whatever to survive a nuclear holocaust. Folding boats were sort of an aside to the business. John Dowd an Mike Neckar got together and bought an old oar factory and started producing “Quill” Inuit style paddles (we called them “brace with your face” paddles). It was great to read about some of those guys, especially Wal- ter Buchmuller—he was quite a character— and Steve Schleicher—he is truly a genius of kayak design.


DARCY WARDROP Campbell River, BC


Wave the flag www.rapidmedia.com 8 | | ADVENTURE KAYAK spring 2007


Before buying your next kayak, you may want to ask where it was made. An increas- ing number of large kayak companies are moving some or all of their high-end com-


posite kayak production to China (see “Going Offshore,” Summer 2006). For boat buyers, “Made in China” should raise some moral and ethical questions: Are we taking jobs away from North Americans with ev- ery offshore boat we purchase? Can these boats compete with proven quality Cana- dian- and American-made products? Do buyers care about inadvertently support- ing human rights violators? Are we selling our future, our children’s future, with every “Made in China” big-ticket item we buy? As kayak retailers, we feel very strongly about supporting North American products whenever possible. We proudly stock Ca- nadian-made boats from several manufac- turers and display a “country of origin” flag beside every boat on our website.


LARRY SHOWLER Frontenac Outfitters Sydenham, ON


What you need is more paddling


You have the best kayak magazine there is! It’s written with great humour by real hu- man beings. So with great respect for your accomplishments, Scott, your lamenting- for-the-good-old-days editorializing (“Sell- ing our Soul,” Fall 2006) seems strange and a bit discouraging to me. And John Dowd! Holy jeez! There are


many, many different types of fine “real” sea kayaks around and thousands of people are joyfully paddling to amazing places in them. Some of them, like mine, are even made of plastic! Your sourpuss comments in the article “Sea Kayaking is Suffering” (Fall 2006) sound like some- one trying to say that classical music is the only “real” music. You probably have composite garbage cans. There must be more to offer than “Sell- ing Our Soul” and


—Continued on page 10


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PHOTO: CONOR MIHELL


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