Steve

I met Steve through my wife while we were living in the Middle East. His wife was a teacher at the same school as my wife. We were invited to their home for dinner and since he was a pilot like me, conversation was easy. Steve works as a F16 Viper instructor (I was a little bit jealous but I tried not to show it) I kept insisting that my lumbering airbus 340 was a more glamorous aircraft but he didn’t buy it…

Conversation soon drifted to my second passion which is boat building. I must have been pretty inspiring because by the end of the night, Steve was on board as my first student and payment was made on the spot. Sweet! As of then, I was a professional boat builder.

Pressure was on to produce the goods. It was a slooooow process. The 50 hour building program was broken down into 2-3 hrs bite sized sessions and THAT is a crazy way to go. The project took 10 months owing to the fact that every session started by 45 min of general fooling around and 45 min of beer drinking and banter. Steve and I became good friends in the process and the result was a stunning boat. The lines of that boat were flawless and it glided so eagerly that you could swear it had a motor hidden in it somewhere.

Of course, for someone unaccustomed to kayaking, Steve had to take it slow but after just a few sessions in the Persian Gulf, he was rolling!!!! He figured he was a pretty gifted student, and I have to admit, I thought I was a pretty gifted instructor….

Steve went on to build another boat with me. A canoe he could use with his kids and his dog but his kayak was my first “commercial” success and it paddles on today in the cerulean waters of Abu Dhabi.

A textbook Greenland kayak if there is such a thing….. Paul’s though was not……….That is another story.