A project for the winter months

In 2024 Denny and I sailed Malua- our Adams 42ft yacht north away from the cold of the South Coast to the tropical warmth of Queensland. As is usual I left Bermagui for points north - this time with Jim G as crew and we managed to sail quite quickly on a southerly right north to the Gold Coast. Jim then flew south and I battled my way north against the persistent northerly winds. That is a story in itself. Denny arrived via the big bird into Mackay where I met her and the next day we were off to the island and to the famous Great Barrier Reef and the Whitsundays. The wind persisted to blow from the north but it also rained and blew and rained and blew. Denny flew home having not spent a single day in the water snorkeling in the "crystal clear waters of the reef".

My return journey is well documented in the web site here and features as a chapter of the book Storm at Sea in Malua.

Malua will not be returning to the Whitsundays this winter. So what to do? Well I have a large timber stack of the planks I did not use in the construction of Malua so why not just build another boat. A bigger boat? No a smaller boat and a kayak. I now have a winter project of building a strip planked kayak out of myrtle. The design is a MICRO BOOTLEGGERER SOLO The design and history was inspired by a 1924 mahogany speedboat and designed by Nick Schade of Guillemot Kayaks. It combines the classic lines of a double paddle canoe with the functionality of a modern kayak. I purchased the plans and had them printed off at full size. Then came the task of finding space to create this kayak.

The kayak blog is here www.maluakayak.blogspot.com  Follow the progress as I build the kayak