ALL LOADED UP...

I owed Jeff a favour, so talked to him a week or so before we headed to the cottage. It turns out he had two H20 Canoes that were special ordered, and needed to be delivered to Frontenac Outfitters, along with a kayak that had been sent to him for repair. Timing worked out quite well, the boats were loaded on the van the night before, just after we had the van packed for our two weeks or so at the cottage (along with a washing machine, and a wheelbarrow). Here is the van at about six the next morning, just before I headed out for Kingston. Katherine and the boys would head out later in the little car, and meet me later that day.

A PADDLE TALE

On the last Friday in June, I delivered ten canoes to Frontenac Outfitters. As I had to return to Tavistock to pick up the boys, as well as a rowing shell to try out at the cottage, I didn't have any choice but to make a real early run to Kingston, drop the boats, and return to Tavistock. So at 3:30 in the morning, I hauled my butt out of bed, grabbed the cell phone and my wallet, and got in the van and headed out, trailer in tow. It was a fantastic drive, crossing Toronto in the dark before 5am, and watching the sun rise as I headed east on the 401. I arrived just before 8am at Frontenac Outfitters, and within a half hour all ten boats were unloaded. I had a brief chat with Larry, and just as I was about to leave he told me to hang on a bit, and opened the door to his shop. Inside, he looked at his rack of paddles, selected one, and handed it to me. "Here, this is for you, it will fit you well" He said. I was really a bit surprised, so I replied "So officially, you have to tell me how much I owe you for this." To which Larry laughed a bit, and replied "Absolutely nothing Dave, enjoy!" I know a gruelling 10 hour drive leaving hours before dawn is tough, but Jeff pays me fairly well for doing them, and we are talking about probably a $50 paddle here. Wow! It certainly is nice to know something you do is really appreciated.

H2O COMPOSITES PROSPECTOR 16

I recently picked up my other new boat, an H20 Composites Prospector 16 from Frontenac Outfitters. It had been previously lent to them to fill out their rental fleet, and as I had just dropped off four brand new canoes, and we were now within a half dozen boats of filling our 2009 order, Matt had no issue with letting me take it away. This is a fibreglass boat, very light for a glass canoe at 58 lbs, and like the Canadian, is fitted out as a rental, with a standard ash Teal yoke, webbed ash seats, and aluminum handles and thwart. I like the Frontenac Outfitters logo, and will probably leave that on. It handles quite differently than the Canadian, and I was surprised I could actually tell the difference, but it was significant. The Prospector loved to turn, and I guess about a half dozen paddle strokes could turn it in a circle, wheras it would take at least twice as many to turn the Canadian. It also wanted to move off course, yet was easier to return to course with a J-stoke of minimal effort. Probably great for slow little meandering rivers, and lakes where you want to explore the shoreline, rather than open lakes like Carson. I think it will be the Canoe of choice for our August paddle down York River into Conroy Marsh!

DRIVING THE BIG RIG

We had been hard at work last week finishing the latest boats destined for Frontenac Outfitters, as well as prepping new moulds for another ten canoes and some rowing shells that have to be delivered before mid-June. Jeff had told me he was going to drive to Frontenac, but as I still had to get the a box spring to the cottage, I volunteered to do it, using his new GMC pickup (well new to him, it is a 2002 Z71 with 102,000 kilometres on it) and the mammoth twenty boat trailer. We got off to a good start, but it takes a long time to load and tie down 18 canoes on a big trailer. I managed to cross Toronto at about 2:30, and by 5:30 had exited at Odessa to fill up on gas. The tank took close to 80 litres to refill, kind of poor fuel economy as that had only got me 345 kilometres! After shortcutting to Sydenham, I finally rolled into Frontenac Outfitters at 6 PM.

(more to come)