And nothing sez "hello and welcome"
to fellow boaters like a harpoon under the deck rigging – Unless of course, one prefers a long range hunting rifle!
SOF and bruce
Sounds like fun. Not something I’d ever tackle, but I can live through you, bruce.
SOF is Greenland, tight fit, ocean cockpit, 20 inch beam. Rolling might be a skill to enhance enjoyment of SOF? What do those that use SOFs think?
Fine idea about the course, bruce.
Many kinds of skinboats.
Not just Greenland. Check out some of Harvey Golden’s work:
http://www.traditionalkayaks.com/Kayakreplicas/KayakReplicas.html
Yep
The Cape Falcon F1 is almost rec-boat stable and highly maneuverable, with a fairly large cockpit opening - it’s really a modern design done in SOF - I have no interest in skinny-tippy skinboats.
Thanks for the link Spiritboat
The variety of yaks is certainly imposing.
I have no interest in skinny-tippy boat
Rolling–worth paddling one if no roll? Taht is the question.
www.qajakusa.com
My F1 Assesment
I posted this on another site about my F1. I took the class with Brian and will have to say it was worth it. Brian is quick and has a production schedule that will have you paddling in 8 days. I don’t know about the other SOF classes but I do give Brian a thumbs up and the F1 high marks. It is a weird looking little boat, like someone said, almost recboatish, but it doesn’t paddle like one.
The class goes quick so you aren’t going to have the full grasp of building an SOF, but you will have actually done most of the steps and it should seem familiar on the next build. It for sure takes the fear out and that is what prevents most from attempting to begin with. It ain’t rocket science, else the Inuits would have been on the moon first.
At long last I put my F1 into the water today and even with a brief three hour trial, I’m pleased. Putting in the float bags wasn’t too bad, the mini-cell for the foot area worked great, butt the seat I installed had the keel hitting my keel bone and needs work.
Getting in I was very cautious because an SOF seems so frail but it is anything but and was a breeze once i just did it. This was about the time I thought “What if I hate this boat?” Initial stability is great, secondary was fine as far as I wanted to test in the cold water, and speed was better than I expected. Acceleration is quick but I don’t see it as a long haul boat. The wind was kicking up small white caps and i knew this odd looking little craft was going to weather cock but it didn’t, not even a little bit, the F1 maintained the desired path.
The most surprising thing was the ease of turning by just slightly edging. The chines bite in and I have a feeling this boat will turn on a dime while still maintaining a straight line without correcting strokes.
I was able to do a little bit of bracing, enough to know it will roll with ease and looking forward to finding out what the F1 can do when things warm up.
BTW, no leaks 
I’ll give it an 8 out of 10…so far
Good report, Belles.
The F-1 does indeed look like a hot boat!
It is especially appealing to someone like me,
coming out of a whitewater background (and who also likes to spend whole days riding shoreline surf)to be in smaller length yaks with a fair amount of rocker.
And you’re right: Building SOF for yourself is not rocket science. Nicely designed, seaworthy skinboats have been built for well over 1500 years by non-carpenters, non-naval architects and non-professional yak designers. They were constructed by average intelligent people who used nothing more than a few basic hand tools and driftwood washed up on the beach…Power tools, precise measurements, and modern design enhancements have only added a good icing to what is already a great cake. The job is more careful joinery than heavy duty technical woodworking or pro carpentry (and of course, if you already have the slightest background in these, it can only help.)