you never went to the Midwest Freestyle Symposium? North East Ohio at a scout camp? Mark O. in his tux?
Interestingly, I had an Italian (Steel) Masi (the real deal) back when I was racing in the mid-70s. I now have a (they sold the name) made-in-Taiwan Masi - also steel. The new one is a nice frame (for the money) - but is nowhere near the level of the old Masi that I had. The new one sure suits abilities of my 66 year old body just fine though.
I really liked the Sawyer canoes because they were fast. They had racing heritage and David Yost has always been a great designer. Most smaller companies donāt go out of business because of their design philosophy, they go out of business because they are not good business people.
I had a 13 foot Oscoda. It was a sweet little boat that had all the key Yost characteristicsā¦stable and predictable, very nice handlingā¦even decent for freestyle, very seaworthy (a good choice for bad weather) and surprisingly efficient for a short/fat boat.
Iāve owned a couple of Sawyer paddles and am not a fan.
Sawyer canoes; these boats are still in demand. I have a Cruiser in kevlar. It is a great boat. I have 3 serious buyers that have given me their contact info if I ever were to consider selling my Cruiser.
My first canoe was an Autumn Mistā¦It had the finest skid plates that Iāve ever seenā¦ Bought it off of Norb(old-time netters would know the name), and paddled it with him and other old netters many, many timesā¦ camped out of it many times too