Guess they’re back up which is good.
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I agree shopping bags are a single use item, but no different than the packaging of the 100s of items I used to take home in the bags. They don’t seem to be an issue filling up landfills and getting tossed into the waterways. It is not the material as much as the end user IMO that is the problem.
For me the video pointed out a few things about Jackson. First is that in one small town free enterprise and mass production are still alive and well in the USA. Looks like a lot of folks lives are made better with a good paying job making a nice product they are proud to be part of. Second is the plastic industry and petrochemicals are still a viable method of bringing a quality product to us at a price we can afford.
The war on plastic bags and 6 pack rings and gasoline production without it we wouldn’t have the petrochemical industry in the first place as it is the breaking down of oil into many different products allows for plastics. There is a real war on fossil fuels to end them.
It is IMO more about responsible use and reuse of all plastics we are falling short with. It is really no difference with steel. We build it into a car or building and it is a long-term usage and when done we recycle it, but we make it into a bean can and it can end up sitting on the bottom of my riverbed. Aluminum is another great material and make it into a canoe and it is used for 50+ years make it into a Chipotle bowl cover and it goes in the landfill or worse the lake.
Makes me wonder if I put my poly canoe out to the road on recycle day if they would take it. I would have to punch a big hole in it to find out because if I didn’t some neighbor would likely grab it. I know they wouldn’t take the plastic vertical blinds I put out. I often wonder about how much clean water I use to wash out a plastic milk bottle to recycle if the cost and energy to get the water outweighs the value of doing it? But that’s for a different thread.
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I have had this thought many, many times. Should be especially important in areas where there is not enough clean water (Southern California, I am talking to you!)
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Yes water depending on where you live and how you acquire it is a factor. At my old house I had a well and septic and other than the cost to pump it 30’ out of the ground I used it and returned it to the ground to repeat the cycle. Our new house the water is taken from our river treated and pumped to our home we use it and then it is pumped to a waste treatment plant and then returned to the river much cleaner than it was taken out. In fact it is returned cleaner than what is sent to our homes so logic would say why put it in the river. The cost for our combined water and sewer bill each month was a shock to me when we moved after 40 years of almost free water.
Even at that we are blessed to not be in other areas of the country where shortages are a thing.
I paddled with a fellow who owned a Kevlar QCC700. I would have bought one if I could have found it used.
Jack paddles one.
Keep looking I looked for a Current Designs Expedition for 5 years plus.
There is a QCC 700 listed on Market Place, in Savannah GA. It has been there a few weeks. Ad states it is in mint condition. Price is not bad, for the quality of the kayak.
When the Delphin 150 got me recommitted to longboat surfing, it reignited my seach for a (closed-down Washington state) Mariner Kayaks Coaster. After a couple of years, I said the heck with that (wasn’t getting any younger) and ordered the Sterling kayak Progression (made in Bellingham, WA). The Sterling increased my longboat surfing enjoyment quite a bit. Still stoking with the learning curve and figuring out what I can do with the boat on a clean wave face. It also helps that I can shoulder carry the Sterling a 100 yards plus to the low tide launch without breaking a sweat. 
sing
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Thanks for the info Medawgone. I have the boat that suits my sea kayaking needs. Although I have lusted for many, it’s been years since I have been inclined to change boats. Hope to be paddling for a few days at the coast in another week with it. Though I really do appreciate the heads up.
It seems lately my spare change has been used on sailing, or perhaps I would go for it.
Sing, I have been enjoying your journey with the Sterling. I know I would love a lightweight kayak. I have two Kevlar canoes. My sea kayak is 52 pounds which is feeling heavier each year. I think at some point I might do a skin on frame. I think Cape Falcon has a skin on frame Mariner Coaster clone.
I’ll attest to the lightness of SOF. I built two. One was 17’x18" and the other was 17’x19". Neither weighed more than 30 lbs. These were the lightest (and best fitting) kayaks I have ever had. I really enjoyed them in paddle arounds in fair conditions. However, in rougher conditions and surf, I always had a worry about the lack of bulkheads since I was/am often solo. I remembered surfing an offshore sand bar at an ebbing tide out from the mouth of the Plum Island Sound which has major tidal outflow. Was having a lot of fun. Flipped a couple of times and rolled right back up. But, in the back of my mind, my voice of reason said, “If you blow your rolls and come of the SOF, you will be seriously effed…” That ended my interest in surfing with an SOF. This was at the time that Brian Schulz was just talking at the Qajag USA site about trying to build a SOF version (the SC-1) of the Mariner Coaster. I think his evolution with the “SC-1” was interesting and he has come a long way with his Cape Falcon kayaks. But, I don’t think I would ever feel totally comfortable with surf and rock play in a SOF. Some SOF builders were also talking about building “bulkheads” into their SOFs. But, I haven’t kept track of that progression/evolution.
sing
I finally got to take a look at a real life Mariner Coaster this past fall. I should have taken pictures to keep it fresh in my memory. My best guess is that at the time they made them, there were sea kayaker camps whose knees would have jerked pretty hard at something not closely modeled after the Greenland replicas that they were familiar with. And then there were those who could make them perform in ways that you couldn’t get the familiar replicas to perform. I could see where it would have been a standout at the time. Maybe it still would be? I didn’t get to paddle it. Just show and tell with the owner inside. It was still a treat to see one.
Playboat designs have definitely become a common part of sea kayaker circles now. I own a Foster Whisky 16, CD Sisu LV, Tiderace Xtreme, Impex Hatteras, Zegul Arrow Play that have all been marketed as playboat sea kayaks. I’ve paddled a Turning Point Petrel Play, Valley Gemini SP, CD Karla, Dagger Stratos for demos in the surf. I’ve had a really short demo of one of the Sterlings in some small waves, and a flatwater demo of the P&H Aries.
If I remember correctly, the ends of the Coaster had some concave curvature to them. Sing. I think the Sterling kayaks have this as well, don’t they? If you’re familiar with knives, it would be like the difference between a hollow ground and convex ground knife. I think it’s somewhat unique in modern playboats. It’s not at all unique in sea kayak design. I’ve got CD. SKUK, Valley, P&H sea kayaks with concave curvature towards the ends. It just seems a unique playboat design trait.
In any case, I believe that the best of the best in playboat design can still be had made in the USA.
I have a buddy who paddles a Cape Falcon F1 in the surf, all the time. It is the only kayak he surfs regularly. He has a couple float bags secured in the bow and stern. So far he has no issues. I spend more time upside down, than he does. He is yet to have a swim. We have done a couple pool rescues, to see what it takes to empty the F1 and get him back in. Though the inlet is quite different than a pool.
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He also has a West Greenland he surfs once a year. Typically he will carry the WG, when very mild conditions are predicted on Magic Seaweed. A couple years ago, he nearly pitch-poled it when conditions where worse than advertised. Luckily he did not come of the kayak. It would not be fun rescuing the WG in even mild surf/inlet conditions.
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I haven’t paddled/demoed the range of production boats that you have. What I can note about the Sterling, Coaster, Delphin and (by inference) the Aries is that these have voluminous bows compared to most touring (point a to b) seakayaks. And, they sport fairly pronounced front rocker (especially with the Sterling). The concavity you mentioned is located right about where the keel line meets the bow edge. This is created by quick increase in bow volume (bulbous) several inches above the keel line, as opposed to the more gradual progressive increase in volume going up to the gunwale and bow end that is prevalent with Greenland style boats and many touring seakayaks.
I think two ingredients (“secret sauce”) for exceptional wave riding and directional control of the Sterling, Mariner and P&H Delphin/Aries lines of kayaks are the high volume bows and front rocker. These boats resist pearling, and the subsequent broaching (and side surfing) that comes with it. Even going down a steep wave face, I experienced/seen how the bow may get occaisonally buried in the trough but will quickly pop completely back out and allow the boat to go back into a planing mode and regaining directional control. With my previous long kayaks (CD Squall, Impex Montauk & Mystic, Greenland S&G and SOFs, if the bow dives into the trough, the boat inevitably broaches into a sidesurf at best, or the bow stops and my whole rear pops up into a pitchpole at worse.
I didn’t appreciate what the high volume bow and front rocker could do for the long boat surfing earlier in my wave riding since I wasn’t riding such a design. I was getting a lot of broaches/side surfing as opposed to the long diagonal runs, cut backs and roller coasting that wanted to do like board surfers. That is why I moved predominantly into riding with surf kayaks and waveskis for 15 years.
I do remember some discussions with ScottB (old PNetter) about waveriding. He and surfed together a several times. He loves his Mariner Express XL (or another higher volume model) while I kept extolling the wave riding virtues of my Mega Venom (maybe the Wold Epic or Island waveski?). Scott was getting these great long diagonal runs on wave faces. One time, I bumped into Scott at the outer lineup at Jeness Beach/NH on a beautiful hurricane swell day. We were getting beautiful, clean shoulder to head high waves. I watched Scott catch several from way out and then cleanly rode diagonal runs all the way in. Without broaching/side surfing. He was/is adamantly in love with his Mariner, despite my (probably obnoxious) clamor about the virtues and wave riding performance of “surf specific design” rides.
Also, paddled several times with Sanjay (another old PNetter) who had a Mariner Elan. I remembered distinctly Sanjay commenting how he loved the handling of his Elan but that he initially had to get used to the bow riding over and than landing on the other side, rather cutting through chops and waves. The one time that I surfed with Sanjay (along with several Walden “Pond Scum” Greenland paddlers that I spent a summer with), it was a small day with 2’ waves. I did noticed that Sanjay catching one nice long diagonal on a wave. After that, I was too busy trying to develop control of my SOF on the wave faces.
Anyway, all to say that I’ve come to appreciate that there are clearly more longboats designed for ocean play, the Sterling being one. What stokes (and drives) me with the longboat is the belief that I can actually develop directional control skills that will allow not only long diagonals but modified cut backs and roller coastering that is akin to long board riding. Will see…
BTW, as I was looking for pics of the Coaster, I came across this site. Apparently, Mariners have sold/leased the rights to the Coaster design to this Italian company:
A bit disappointing that an American Company didn’t pick up the Mariner designs.
sing
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So, I know a “standard” assisted rescue with West Greenland boat is doable. Pulling the SOF over a rescuer’s bow would allow much of the water to be drained.
The trick is when one is solo. With my SOF, despite filling up as much bow and stern space with custom air bags, there was still a lot of unfilled space between the ribs and the outer skin that is not displaced by the air bags. Given that I only had 2 inches of freeboard, I was left with less than an inch when the SOF cockpit filled with water. This creates an extraordinarly tippy situation. In a choppy conditions, it would be very hard to stay upright and try to pump the SOF out while water is still likely sloshing over the top. (Yes. I can roll, maytag, roll, magtag again, but for how long?)
I think the situation may be different with the SC-I (Coaster replica), its wide beam and deeper hull might allow for bigger float bags to give more freeboard when the cockpit fills with water. But, no way to tell, until the person gives a go in choppy or wave conditions to see if self rescue is possible.
sing
Flotsam, I built most of a SOF in my living room. Great winter project.
Building a SOF in the living room… My wife indulges me quite a bit, but that would have been a “bridge too far…”
sing
She helped me sew the skin on then it was in the garage for the 2 part epoxy.
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Lucky you. Your wife is an angel. 
sing