A year ago, a friend sent me a photo of a kayak that he had built. I knew that I will enjoy to build one myself. I had no idea about sea kayaking.
My history as a sailor, was not a successful one. 50 years ago, while the Yarkon river was not yet a sewage canal (It was never a river either). We used to go there to hire a rowing dingy. It ended up when I slipped from the boat into the water, and had to walk wet all the way home. (Iben Gvirol St was still a dirt way, and taking a bus home, was science fiction).
My second attempt, was 15 years later. I built a very simple sailing boat. I had no idea about sails. I found out later, that ordering a sail will be more expenssive than what I spent on building the hull. I bought the cheapest available fabric , which was a very heavy one (I considered it as a bargain, to have such heavy, strong fabric for so little money)
The boat had one minor fault. It sailed only backward.
Thirty three years later, (a year ago) I ordered a kit of a "stitch and glue" kayak from Pygmy boats - Osprey standard. It was a real success. About 80 hours of work and here we go... Or do we really?. I had no idea at all about paddling.
luckily I met a colegue at work, that told me about Terra santa sea kayak club . It was there where I learnt the first "steps" of walking on the water, and little by little I improved my relationship with the sea. Some photos of my first kayak are presented in the Kayak trips page.
The second kayak that I built, was a One ocean strip kayak- Cape ann. This time I documented the construction stages by photos
On Feb 2005, I added to my navy a Folbot Cooper folding kayak. which hopefully will expand my trips to other countries.