Meet Mary Lee

This is Mary Lee.
She is a 16ft, 3500lb Carcharodon carcharias, more commonly known as a Great White shark.

This September she was caught off Cape Cod, and somehow fitted with a satellite tracking device. Since then she has been tracked far offshore, heading south along the eastern seaboard. In the last three weeks Mary Lee has moved much closer inshore, and is currently swimming around our neck of the woods.

Yesterday, the 21st November, she was less than half a mile off Wassaw beach.
Each time Mary Lee breaks the ocean surface, the tracker switches on and emits a signal which is picked up by a passing satellite. To follow her progress and others in this fascinating study, to make a donation, or if nothing else, make sure your paths do not cross, follow the link... http://sharks-ocearch.verite.com/

Oyster Roast and Potluck.

Preperations are well under way for the Guy Fawkes oyster roast boat builders and burners meet up. Monday6.30pm

Guy Fawkes Party - Nov 5th

Come on over for our Guy Fawkes Bonfire Party on November 5th @ 6.30pm....behind the shop.
The Skin-on-Frame boat builders will be in full swing, oysters will be on the grill, the guy will be on fire.. all along with some freestyle musical accompaniment. Think of it as a mini 'Burning Man' night.
Bring your beverages, bring your drums, bring something to burn. All are welcome, as we hail the fall paddling season.

Used Surf Kayaks For Sale

We also carry a full line of new Mega and Valley Surf Kayaks.
Demos and classes available any time.

Mega Neutron HDP. Excellent condition.One careful owner. Lightly used. Larger guy's surf kayak. Comes complete with float bags, fins, footblocks, heal hole and skirt..you'll be surfing by sundown. Great deal..$750.

Mega Xray HDP. Good condition. Ideal for small to medium surfer. Very forgiving edges, great design, stiffest of all the mega hdp's and super fun in the waves. Our favourite hdp mega surf kayak ever... $650

Valley Nemesis IC - ProKevlar. 1 year old. Demo model. Repaird, solid and dry. Never been owned. The Valley Nemesis - aka The Rocket Ship...the boat they changed all the rules for. This boat is fast and extreme. We've tried it..it's awesome...too awesome for us. Fast,Finless Fun...for the edgy surfer. $1300.

We have a few other boats in stock which we are keeping up our sleeve. If you are looking for something nice, special, sweet, awesome, radical...give us a ring and we can probably get you sorted.

Letter From The Left Coast

From Nick Scoville,
SC+K Team Paddler

It is always great when your friends and family come to visit. However, when you live in the Pacific Northwest it is always better if they can boat.

When I asked my brother what he wanted to do while he was in the Northwest his answer was fairly simple. “I want to go kayaking”. I turned that answer into an excuse for a 1000 mile road trip.
With the rivers in late summer recession, we turned our focus on one of the West Coast’s premier sea kayaking venues... Ft. Bragg and the Northern coast of California.
The first place we hit was Van Damme Park which is roughly ten miles south of Ft. Bragg. I was stoked to have a 4-6 ft Northwest swell and virtually no wind. This was gave us plenty of moving water to make things interesting but was also manageable enough to access and explore every bay, cave, and feature.

This cave led to a beach which was walled in on all sides by a 50 foot cliff. It is great to show up somewhere so far away for one day and have the weather work out this perfectly. Below Cory hits his line perfectly on one of the many sweet pour-overs.
If anyone is ever in this area and looking to do some boating I would highly recommend hooking up with Jeff Laxier and Cate Hawthorne of Liquid Fusion Kayaking. They offer great day trips, introductory and advanced rock gardening courses, and, if you are so inclined, BCU skills assessments.
I had high aspirations of finding some great boating on the Lost Coast. However, after burning through a set of brake pads and seven hours of off road driving with no beach access, we abandoned the plan in favor of the paved road. I think the next time I go to the lost coast I’ll take a bike or hike it. I am sure either option, would be faster than driving. As a consolation we had the time to stop the next day at Trinidad bay which while not on the original agenda was certainly worth doing.

As we made our way back across the bay Cory pointed out a crack in a building sized rock on the beach.

From a distance it looked terrible because the surf was breaking into the opening. After a little deliberation he talked me into giving it a closer look. It turned out to be a fairly mellow cave due to a sandy beach on the inside which dissipated the wave energy.
I rounded out the West Coast tour with a couple of days of really low volume creeking. Even though we had to drag our boats down a significant portion of this run, the stunning scenery, crystal clear water made it well worth the effort. A few really great waterfalls and a natural riverside hot spring really push this run over the top.

Nick will be back in Savannah later this year for a little southern style refreshment. No doubt we'll put together a winter surf kayak camp in Florida during his stay.

Taylor Schoettle at Savannah Kayak

The author of some of our favourite Georgia coast books will be at the shop on Thursday evening. As well as signing copies of some of his titles...Guide to a Georgia Barrier Island and a Beachcombers Guide to the Georgia Coast, Taylor will be talking about the fascinating creatures that live in the transitional area between land and sea. Bar opens at 6pm and the presentation begins at 6.30pm. Free and open to all.

Georgia Waterways Cleanup.

October 27, 2012 Savannah area residents will take to the water as part of the continuing statewide campaign to clean and preserve over 70,000 miles of Georgia’s rivers and streams.
The effort will be part of Rivers Alive, a joint program of the Environmental Protection Division Outreach Programs and the Keep Georgia Beautiful Foundation.
Volunteers in Savannah will stage their cleanup at 8am on October 27, 2012 at the Rivers End boat ramp, at Rivers End Dr. and Hurst Ave. Volunteers can bring their own canoe or kayak, or one will be provided for them, and all volunteers receive lunch and t-shirt. They will be joining an estimated 25,000 other volunteers statewide participating in the annual river cleanup. This fall over 200 cleanups will collect trash and similar debris in streams, rivers, lakes, wetlands and the ocean from the Conasauga River in North Georgia to the St. Marys River in the South.
To volunteer for the Hayners Creek cleanup, contact Margosia Jadkowski at 912-651-6943 or mjadkowski@savannahga.gov. For more information about efforts in other areas or the statewide campaign, go to www.riversalive.org.

Demo + Used Boats on Sale

Here is our list of demo and used boats currently on sale at the shop. For a closer look, please stop by.

Mega Neutron HDP. Excellent condition.One careful owner. Lightly used. Larger guy's surf kayak. Comes complete with float bags, fins, footblocks, heal hole and skirt..you'll be surfing by sundown. Great deal..$750.

Bic Yakka 120
Brand new, discontinued 'clam shell' collapsible kayak. Ideal for downtown apartment or RVing. Hard bottom, inflatable top. As new - $525

Merrimack Canoe- Green
Beautiful handmade canoe with ash gunwales. Wood, carbon and kevlar hull. Weighs in at 58lbs. Very good condition. $1350.

Valley Avocet. Blue over white.
Great sea and surfing kayak for the smaller paddler. Very good condition, with deck compass. $1650.

Stellar S14. Sport Layup. Yellow over white
Shop Demo model. Almost brand new, perfect condition. Very fast, lightweight touring kayak with two bulkheads and hatches. Skeg. $1330.

Mega Xray. Mustard Yellow.
One of the best HDP models made by Mega International. Ideal for the small to medium sized surfer. This one is brand new and ready to rip. $750.

Mega Short R's. Kawasaki Green. Brand new. Short by name, kick your ass by nature. Needs a set of thigh braces. Very fast stunt boat ideal for kamikazi ww paddler living on the coast. $1300.

Skin On Frame Kayak Building Workshop

Session I - November 3-10th.
Session II - November 12-18th.

By Zac Smith

It is an amazing thing to paddle a high performance composite or high density molded plastic boat, however when you paddle your very own skin on frame kayak, that you built with your own two hands, it’s nearly transcendent.
From the time I first began sea kayaking about 10 years ago, I’ve been greatly intrigued by the idea of building my own boat. I knew that there were several types of kits available on the market for stitch and glue boats, and I’d even seen some extremely fine strip-cedar canoes and kayaks as well. Ultimately, however, the aesthetic beauty and the surprising strength and durability of a skin-boat, paired with such a diminished build-time and significant weight reduction, helped me to decide on building a skin-on-frame kayak instead.
The environmentally sustainable materials over plastics or composites was an advantage, and the relationship with a tradition that was developed by the earliest native Inuit paddlers was also of great appeal.

After much research on the traditional skin-on-frame style of kayak building, I discovered Brian Schultz and his boat-building school, Cape Falcon Kayak, (www.capefalconkayak.com).
Cape Falcon operates a small off-the-grid farm and homestead on the rugged coast of Oregon, where Brian tests his boats by fishing, surfing, and distance trekking in the frigid and extreme conditions of the Pacific Northwest. Brian’s utilitarian approach to paddling, and the practical use of his skills and his equipment were very appealing to me, and Brian has never been hesitant to put his boats up to the most rugged and rigorous tests of use and abuse, as you can see in the picture below:

I built my first traditional West Greenland replica seal-hunting kayak with Greenland paddle at Cape Falcon in 2007, see pictures at (http:/www.capefalconkayak.com/oslo.html.) From start to finish the build took us just under a week’s time. Having gained a new knowledge of woodworking and sewing during the class, I also gained a much greater respect for Brian’s expertise and attention to detail as an instructor, paddler, and craftsman.
The West Greenland boat I built is an amazingly elegant and beautiful boat. Weighing a mere 25lbs., it is super fast on the water, and it sits just above the water-line, so it is virtually unaffected by wind. It is a great option for someone wanting to practice rolling and even more of the traditional Greenland-style paddling techniques. Being such a slender boat at just over 20,” it will advance any paddler’s balance and edging skills tremendously.

Last summer in 2011, I returned to the Oregon coast to build a second kayak with Brian’s more modern F1 design. The F1 is a shorter and wider design, 14-1 3/4” x 23” , and with a bit more weight at 30lbs., it is still fast and performance oriented, and unlike the Greenland boat, I can put any of my novice-paddler friends in it and they will be comfortable and confident while out on the water. It is playful and fun in the surf, and it is also great for camping because it has extra volume and capacity for gear. Oh, and my 35lb. dog Maybelle rides beautifully on the back deck! Both boats have served me very well. They are extremely easy and pleasurable to paddle, and I continue to paddle them as my primary kayaks.

At Savannah Canoe and Kayak we want you to get the very best out of each and every paddling experience you have out on the water, and we know that Brian Schultz works very hard to design some of the best skin-on-frame kayaks you can buy or build anywhere, so we’re very glad to be able to offer this kayak-building class right here in Savannah at our new shop. The cost of the class includes all materials needed to build your own boat and Greenland-style paddle. Class will be held in the shop behind Savannah Canoe and Kayak starting Saturday Nov. 3rd-10th from 8:30am-5pm daily. Registration deadline is Aug. 31st!! Please call us with any questions you may have.

Skin On Frame Boat Building Workshop in Savannah, GA
November 3rd-10th, 2012
Sign Up Now!

UTAH SLC WAS ORSM

We recently went to the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market Show in Salt Lake City, a vast trade show for shop owners and manufacturers involved in the business of selling and promoting the outdoors.
It's a huge event, and takes over most of downtown SLC every year. We thought it a great chance to see new gear, meet existing suppliers, and experience full-on the nuts and bolts of the outdoor business. Yep, sounds pretty boring, but someone has to do it.

We flew into Vegas, hired a car and spent 5 days driving, camping and hiking in valleys, canyonlands and desert landscapes of extreme beauty. Man, there are some big cracks in the earth. This was the highlight of the whole adventure... hiking in Mukuntaweep Canyon, a night at the Lodge on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, driving through Monument Valley, and on up to Moab and the spooky landscapes of Arches NP.

Of course, none of this involved any paddling, so by the time we reached the demo lake for the ORSM show, we were jonesing for a dig. With over 70 SUP companies in attendance, we hopped from one board to another, until we reached the kayak shore, by which time everyone was packing up and going back to town. But, it seemed like OR was not really a big canoe and kayak paddlers' gig, with very few sea kayaks to be seen. We did, however, run into Nige Foster and P65, which is always cool.

Voyageur SUP >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

For the next 2 days were spent fumbling and stumbling through miles of aisles, trying to meet appointments, stay on schedule, and keep focused on task. We failed at this quite brilliantly, and are very sorry to those companies whom we had appointments with, but were some three miles away from where we needed to be at the time.

Foam Kidz...for those looking to reduce stress, expense and footprint. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<







The end result of all this is?
It was good to be reminded that we live in a fantastic country with broad mysterious landscapes. Thanks to the Bureau of Land Management, there are even free campsites to stay at, in incredibly beautiful places.
We have several new lines coming to the store which we are very excited about. The outdoor industry is big and corporate with a large foot print indeed, but everyone we met was super cool and a pleasure to do business with.

The water flowed like beer.