The Dash Point Pirate

Deception Pass Dash 2010: Interview with Warren Williamson

Ricardo and I caught up with legendary traditional kayaking enthusiast Warren Williamson at the 2010 Deception Pass Dash. Warren talks a little about the West Greenland style plywood stitch and glue kayak he designed and constructed. Don't miss the on-water clips I took during the race taken using a stern-mounted camera on my kayak, after the interview.

This year I paddled my Shooting Star cedar-strip baidarka instead of the Epic 18X Ultra I paddled the last two years. I wanted to find out how it would perform. I finished the 6 nm race in 69:08 min, compared to 62:47 min last year with the Epic 18X Ultra. Conditions were the same: flat water and calm winds. I thought that was surprisingly good, given that I hadn't been training nearly as much as the year before and I was in a 16 ft boat. So I think I can say that the boat is pretty fast for its length.

Thanks to Ricardo for taking the pics.

Interviews from Greenland Week: Setsuko's Very Cool Kayak

Setsuko Cox talks to us about her Qaanaaq series kayak, manufactured by Water Field Kayaks in Japan. It's very low volume, an amazing rolling kayak and looks very Greenland Style. Check out how the back deck is awash with a larger paddler (Mr. Mike Jackson of Victoria, BC) in the cockpit. By the way, it's also a favorite of Freya Hoffmeister.