The Black Pearl
No… Not pirate Jack Sparrow’s Caribbean pirate ship, but Björn Thomasson’s kayak design Black Pearl. I especially like the part that says “A novice with ambitions, patience and perseverence might use Black Pearl as a crash course to advanced paddling.” I think in my case there might be an emphasis on ‘crash’. But then again, might just have to go low volumn on my next one..
Anyone have any advice as to yes or no or “go for it” on this kayak for a relative novice?
As I believe this may have been built in Scandanavian countries, I would welcome any comments from across the Atlantic.
Tony Olsen
Björn Thomasson
29 Dec, 2005
You are right, most of the Black Pearl plans have gone to Scandinavia, some to Europe northwest and two sets of plans have recently been shipped to US builders – one of them building, the other about to start. You may thus have to wait a while for an on-the-water-review…
The part about “A novice…” was added after a paddling class this summer where some real novices not only handled the kayak surpricingly well and one of them even rolled after 15 minutes practice – I found reason to mitigate my intial more excluding description.
Tony Olsen
29 Dec, 2005
Björn,
That’s what I had thought, Then I was thinking hip + 4 fingers for rolling and hips +8 fingers for touring…. how about hips +6 fingers for a compromise. Sounds like this is a very good and flexible design.
Tony Olsen