Well, back to Flagstaff and back to normal. Oh wait. Normal is over with. No more normal. So might as well go get a Covid test. Nostril rape is really weird. Especially from a space woman. But I thought it a good idea since I’d been traveling and was about to go do a commercial river trip. But wouldn’t you know it: results take a week or so. By which time I was downriver. Never did get the results.
Some really lovely coverage of Fretwater boat world came out while we were traveling. We got The Gulch cover story with words by me and fabulous photos by my lovely and talented sweetheart Dawn Kish. Click on her name for more about her work. Click on Forward Into the Past for a glimpse of the magazine and the opportunity to order one.
I made a run to the glass recycler to dump about six months’ worth of bottles. How many Irish whiskey bottles can you find? Also fancy vermouth. Kind of embarrassing. It’s my guests that drink all those. Really.
Covid boating was a bit odd, but not that hard to do. LOTS of hand washing and masks anywhere near the kitchen. No close gatherings, and so forth. Man it was hot. Too hot for this old boy.
I got a cute new mask and thought it would amuse folks, but most folks didn’t seem to notice I was wearing one. They thought I looked the same.
Lastly, what with all the Doryak publicity I’m getting a lot of queries. Here are some answers:
No, I don’t have plans for sale. We design them and loft them full scale and build right from the lofting. So I really don’t have a way to sell plans. However, Andy Hutchinson at High Desert Dories does sell plans and, as I mentioned above, he hopes to crunch the Doryak into something salable in plan form. Stay tuned.
No, it usually doesn’t make them much cheaper if you come and help. It actually slows us down and I spend more time teaching and supervising than I do producing the goods. Although we sometimes do that as an option, we are getting more hesitant.
It makes more sense to either A) build professionally, or B) teach. And until I find a way to get affordable liability insurance, I have no plans to start teaching again in my shop. Much as I really enjoy teaching, the lack of insurance makes me a little too twitchy.
That said, Gary stopped by yesterday after a Grand Canyon trip to show off this boat. He took three of my courses a couple years ago (when I was still brave enough to do it without coverage) –bronzecasting, oarmaking, and building the Briggs boat. Man, he was a mighty good pupil–the boat is beautiful.
At least in the Fretwater Lines. It does work in some of the other areas though and certainly is a wondrous way to view the enlarged pics.