no image
guillemot-kayaks.comavailable |
When Nick was about 3 years old, his brother who was about 6 at the time got to paddle a small homemade kayak-like boat named "Fang" around a harbor on Cape Cod. Young Nick was not allowed to try. To this day, some 57 years later, Nick is still working to overcome the trauma of that rejection. When he was about 10 his father bought a kayak kit and built a kayak in the basement. His brother, somehow still older than him, got dibs on using that kayak. This was a situation that could not stand. As soon as he had the money and time right out of college, Nick set out to remedy the situation. He did so by sitting on his parents dining room floor and drawing up a sea kayak design. Thus began his journey to alleviate his childhood trauma. For the past 40-plus years he has been designing and building high performance kayaks and other small boats for his use and for others to make themselves. He has two books published on building sea kayaks and small boats, through his company Guillemot Kayaks, his designs are being built world wide and are renowned for their performance and beauty. He has sold his custom built boats around the world and on of this kayaks is in the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan. Nick designs and builds his boats because of his love for paddling and getting out on the water. He paddles year around along the coast of New England. He teaches boat building and kayaking when he can and spends getting folks turned on to making stuff that gets you out on the water. While he is still occasionally upset that he was never allowed to paddle Fang, he has found some relief in paddling his own boats, and is general feeling a bit better about that whole situation. |