.
|
The Robb Report
The Best of the Best
by Robert Ferrago
|
|
I have clambered aboard some of the
world’s most extreme powerboats, but I have never felt as much fear getting
into a vessel as I did when lowering myself into an Adirondack Guideboat.
Central to my trepidation was the temperature of the water supporting the
16-foot cedar hull - it was only a few degrees above freezing. One wrong
move - easy to make when positioning your body in a 72-pound boat with a
41-inch beam - and I could have become an unintended member of the Polar
Bear Club. Luckily, David Rosen, who along with its founder, Steve Kaulback,
owns the Adirondack Guideboat Company, had a firm grip on the guideboat’s
polished cherry gunwales. As I found my balance, pushed off and began my first
tentative strokes, I realized that even if my winter-time New England rowing
adventure was insane, at least I had an excuse: I was in love. |
|
"It happens all the time," Rosen said later, in
a decidedly warmer setting. "People see one of our cedar boats at a show and
zone out. It reminds them of fishing with grandpa at the lake or a little
boat they made when they were kids." |
|
The Adirondack Guideboat also reminds people of a
canoe - which it is not. Although both vessels have a roughly similar shape,
a guideboat’s hull sits much deeper in the water than a canoe’s. The
guideboat’s less prominent profile reduces its susceptibility to side winds,
and the lower center of gravity - occupants sit approximately 8 inches lower
than they would in a canoe - also increases overall stability. In anything
other than a rock-strewn river, a guideboat has an unassailable edge over
its more famous cousin.
|
|
Backwoods boatbuilders developed the guideboat’s unique
design in Anew York’s Adirondacks in the 1830’s. They created the craft for
hunting and fishing guides who plied the region’s innumerable lakes and
rivers. A guideboat had to be light enough to be carried over treacherous
portages, stable in rough weather, capable of accommodating two men and
their supplies, and quick enough to travel from camp to distant hunting and
fishing camps and then back.
|
|
Actually, "quick," doesn’t quite describe the speed of
the boat. As I gradually got the measure of the guideboat, I could easily
believe Rosen’s claim that his company build’s the world’s fastest
fixed-seat rowboats. The guideboat leaped forward with each stroke, its prow
cleaving the ice-filled waters of Providence Harbor with sublime grade and
effortless efficiency. No wonder guideboats have won their class in the
Blackburn Challenge, a 22-mile open-ocean race off the coast of
Massachusetts, for six years running.
|
|
That said, a cedar Adirondack Guideboat isn’t all
about speed and stamina. Most owners enjoy their boats on lazy summer days.
They report that the experience becomes a family tradition, the boat a
treasured family heirloom. And it should be - the company builds just 10
cedar guideboats per year. Along with 150 of their Kevlar guideboats. The 16-foot
cedar and cherry boat costs $12,800. In Kevlar with cherry trim, a similar
boat is available for about a third that price.
|
|
Let the memories begin. |
Search engines please note the
keywords for this site are: Adirondack Guide Boats,adirondackguideboat, adirondackguideboats, dory, dories, rowing boat, flyfishing, fly-fishing, fly casting, Dory, Dories, Fly-Fishing, Fly-Casting,Adirondack Guideboat, adirondack guideboat, Adirondack Guideboats, Adirondack Guideboats,adirondack guide boats,adirondack,guide,boats,boat,boats,boat building,boat kits,custom boats,custom boat kits,wood,wooden,wooden boats,wooden boat kits,Kevlar,kevlar,kevlar boats,kevlar guide boats,rowing, rowing boats, row boats, row, oar, oars, fishing, fishing boats, camping, Vermont,vermont, Vermont Boating,vermont boating,boat museum,boat museums, canoe,canoes,wood canoes,wooden canoes,canoe kits,boat museums,Museums,museums,classic boats, classic, Stephen Kaulback, David Rosen, Steve Kaulback,Dave Rosen