A few over-the-hill goof balls fishing, camping and doing a little drinking too. 
Tom, Ron and I haven't been able to get out together in a few years so this was a lot fun, kind of a mini reunion...
Was maiden voyage for me in Stevet's Peregrine too, which is a beautiful and meticulously maintained canoe. So this trip report will be more a review. Ron offered to buy it several times throughout the weekend, low balling me of course...
This is my first solo canoe so the whole experience was a bit new to me. Started out at the ramp loaded down pretty good, guessing at least a 100lbs which was 75% hickory firewood and the rest ice and Stumpknocker beer (a local Gainesville brew). Some of you may notice from the photo's or video that I paddled the Peregrine sitting on the kneeling seat setup. I had the seat blocks with me to lower it to prescribed sitting height, but didn't bother changing it. For what I was doing here I found it to be plenty stable as it was at that height, except the angle of the seat was a bit uncomfortable after a while without readjusting myself a bit. I'll probably use Dave's standard sitting height blocks as a template and make a set roughly half way between them and the kneeling height and see how that works out on some more challenging water out along the coast.
I think its fair to say I found the Peregrine to be more stable than I was expecting, so much so that I stood up to fly fish quite a bit Sunday morning as we meandered back to the launch. This was without the 70lbs of firewood and beer on board too, so it was a bit more buoyant than it was on the way out to camp. Tom got a little video of me casting with 15-18mph gusts swirling overhead starting around 2:20. If you listen carefully you can hear me saying to Ron its maybe a bit wobbly, but definitely not tippy.
Was also able to maintain good pace with Tom in a few spirited sprints in his Monarch. A couple on the way out to camp with a full load and one multi-mile burst across open a stretch of open water into the 15-18mph headwind lightly loaded. I don't quite have the high cadence paddling thing figured out yet, but was able to keep Tom within a few boat lengths. Tom is a seasoned WaterTriber, completed the Fl Ultimate and Everglades Challenge several times already and is a very strong paddler. If we stayed at that pace for more than a few miles I'm sure Tom would continue to widen his lead. I don't have any experience with anything to compare the Peregrine to, but for a somewhat out of shape neanderthal I was very encouraged to be able to stay in the game against the ruddered Monarch and a strong paddler like Tom. Also, Tom let me borrow one of his fancy ultralight carbon ZRE paddles, otherwise the gap would have been much bigger had I used my clunky wood paddle from Dicks sporting goods. First paddle purchase will be one of those ZRE's...
All in all, very, very happy with the Peregrine, easy to accelerate, glides great loaded or not, really light and stable enough to stand and cast under suitable conditions. Dave's workmanship is exquisite. Both Ron and Tom are pretty savvy when it comes to glass and boatworks and both assumed the layup was bagged and infused. They were very impressed when I told them it was a hand lay up. I'm sure the more time I get in it and the more I learn how to paddle correctly the more I will like it.
Video is pretty rough, just another mash up of random clips from me and Tom's phone's, no editing etc, but hopefully worth a few laughs and 2.5 minutes of your life. You kinda' had to be there though. Ron hasn't surfaced yet with any content yet either, but if he ends up with anything worth sharing I'll update the post.
video link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUslyFOHknw
Enjoy
Tom, Ron and I haven't been able to get out together in a few years so this was a lot fun, kind of a mini reunion...Was maiden voyage for me in Stevet's Peregrine too, which is a beautiful and meticulously maintained canoe. So this trip report will be more a review. Ron offered to buy it several times throughout the weekend, low balling me of course...
This is my first solo canoe so the whole experience was a bit new to me. Started out at the ramp loaded down pretty good, guessing at least a 100lbs which was 75% hickory firewood and the rest ice and Stumpknocker beer (a local Gainesville brew). Some of you may notice from the photo's or video that I paddled the Peregrine sitting on the kneeling seat setup. I had the seat blocks with me to lower it to prescribed sitting height, but didn't bother changing it. For what I was doing here I found it to be plenty stable as it was at that height, except the angle of the seat was a bit uncomfortable after a while without readjusting myself a bit. I'll probably use Dave's standard sitting height blocks as a template and make a set roughly half way between them and the kneeling height and see how that works out on some more challenging water out along the coast.
I think its fair to say I found the Peregrine to be more stable than I was expecting, so much so that I stood up to fly fish quite a bit Sunday morning as we meandered back to the launch. This was without the 70lbs of firewood and beer on board too, so it was a bit more buoyant than it was on the way out to camp. Tom got a little video of me casting with 15-18mph gusts swirling overhead starting around 2:20. If you listen carefully you can hear me saying to Ron its maybe a bit wobbly, but definitely not tippy.
Was also able to maintain good pace with Tom in a few spirited sprints in his Monarch. A couple on the way out to camp with a full load and one multi-mile burst across open a stretch of open water into the 15-18mph headwind lightly loaded. I don't quite have the high cadence paddling thing figured out yet, but was able to keep Tom within a few boat lengths. Tom is a seasoned WaterTriber, completed the Fl Ultimate and Everglades Challenge several times already and is a very strong paddler. If we stayed at that pace for more than a few miles I'm sure Tom would continue to widen his lead. I don't have any experience with anything to compare the Peregrine to, but for a somewhat out of shape neanderthal I was very encouraged to be able to stay in the game against the ruddered Monarch and a strong paddler like Tom. Also, Tom let me borrow one of his fancy ultralight carbon ZRE paddles, otherwise the gap would have been much bigger had I used my clunky wood paddle from Dicks sporting goods. First paddle purchase will be one of those ZRE's...
All in all, very, very happy with the Peregrine, easy to accelerate, glides great loaded or not, really light and stable enough to stand and cast under suitable conditions. Dave's workmanship is exquisite. Both Ron and Tom are pretty savvy when it comes to glass and boatworks and both assumed the layup was bagged and infused. They were very impressed when I told them it was a hand lay up. I'm sure the more time I get in it and the more I learn how to paddle correctly the more I will like it.
Video is pretty rough, just another mash up of random clips from me and Tom's phone's, no editing etc, but hopefully worth a few laughs and 2.5 minutes of your life. You kinda' had to be there though. Ron hasn't surfaced yet with any content yet either, but if he ends up with anything worth sharing I'll update the post.
video link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUslyFOHknw
Enjoy
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