From The Editor

September 2023

Brother Jim’s Paddle

A featherweight beauty

When Jim Schroer passed away, his wife was left with his life’s work and more boats than she could keep. The canoe paddle our editor bought from her is a fine example of Jim’s extraordinary work.

August 2023

Bark

Beautiful materials from windfalls

While making a birchbark canoe was beyond our editor’s aspirations and abilities, he enjoyed working with bark harvested from downed birch and cedar trees.

July 2023

Memorable

Seattle’s Duwamish River

An industrial river, a muddy island, and an unseasonably cold downpour were the unlikely makings of a pleasant afternoon outing.

June 2023

Galápagos Islands

Differing with Darwin

During a kayaking cruise in 2005, the Galápagos Islands were very much as they were when Charles Darwin landed there in 1835.

May 2023

Purposeless

Leaving the to-do behind

There are times when the most rewarding boating is going nowhere and doing nothing.

April 2023

ISLAND BIRD

A chance encounter leads to an exciting sail

A canoe outing in 1988 near St. Michaels, Maryland, led to chance meeting with Judge John C. North and an invitation to sail aboard ISLAND BIRD, a Chesapeake log canoe built by North’s grandfather in 1882.

March 2023

Risk-Taker?

Finding value in adversity

Looking back on being presented on TV as a “risk-taker” after completing a solo 2,400-mile voyage in a 14’ boat in winter

February 2023

Launched

From backpack to bicycle to boat

A life devoted to boats and writing, let alone a career as an editor, wasn’t what our editor had in mind during or after his schooling, but getting hit by a car during a bicycle ride sent him flying in that direction.

January 2023

Forlorn

Languishing under the eaves

Tucked under the eaves, a skin-on-frame Greenland kayak built decades ago has been a constant presence and yet all but forgotten.

December 2022

#100

It has been more than eight years since WoodenBoat Publications launched Small Boats Monthly, now Small Boats Magazine. This December edition is the 100th issue.

November 2022

Menorca

A coast of caves

The south coast of Menorca, one of Spain’s Mediterranean islands, is a 25-mile-long stretch of limestone cliffs and caves, a landscape that can only be explored and appreciated by kayak.

October 2022

Lit

Like a moth to a flame

Building a boat off the grid in the early ‘80s called for some unusual methods of powering tools and illuminating the work. Some worked better than others.

September 2022

Blackberries for Ali

Under power for picking

When our editor’s daughter came home to celebrate her August birthday, the blackberries were ripe and the best way to pick them was by boat.

August 2022

Greenland

Chilling memories

In the midst of a heatwave in Seattle, fond memories of kayaking among icebergs and glaciers in Greenland 20 years ago help bring the temperature down.

July 2022

Mercer Slough

An indelible memory

The Mercer Slough in Bellevue, Washington, flows from a concrete culvert at one end and under 14 elevated freeway lanes at the other, but in between it is surrounded by greenery and songbirds.

June 2022

A Bad Wrap

Sheltering boats with plastic tarps

For the boats that don’t have a roof and four walls to surround them, the only protection they have from hail, rain, sunlight, and snow comes from plastic tarps.

May 2022

By a Landslide

Buried and broken

In James Michener’s novel, "Chesapeake," his fictional Devon Island was slowly obliterated by erosion. At Kent Island, erosion is all too real and once tried to take a canoe down with it.

April 2022

I Spy

Lost and found in a small workshop

After collecting tools and materials for boatbuilding over the past 44 years, our editor has everything he needs in his one-car garage shop. While it’s all practically within arm’s reach, that doesn’t mean he can lay his hands on it.

March 2022

Reacquainted

Relaunching the sneakbox LUNA after a prolonged storage

Our editor built a sneakbox in 1984 and rowed and sailed it from Pittsburgh to Cedar Key, Florida, in the winter of the following year. Since then, it had been largely idle and hadn’t been afloat for about 20 years. It was time to spruce it up and get reacquainted.

February 2022

Swamp Creek

Our editor had passed by Swamp Creek many times while rowing the river it flowed into. He explored the creek only after discovering its existence while browsing satellite images.

January 2022

Hijacked

After graduating from college, our editor had wanted to pursue a career as an artist, but after building a kayak and a dory skiff, his aspirations took a sudden and dramatic shift.

December 2021

Refuge in the Rain

Boating in the off season

For those who don’t mind the rain, boating season in Washington’s Puget Sound area never really ends. For some, the rain is not the bug but the feature and is the reason for launching.

November 2021

Disappointment

Built for long-distance cruising, paddled only a few yards

Forty years ago, our editor put his best work into building a replica of a King Island kayak. The goal was to use it for cruising, but shortly after his first outing in it he put it away and never paddled it again.

October 2021

A Light-Blue Tarp

From dumpster to camp-cruiser

A simple homemade tarp sewn of lightweight nylon pulled out of dumpster pulled more than its own weight and provided shelter for a variety of cruises that covered thousands of miles.

September 2021

A Coracle

The history of coracles stretches back to Roman times, as much as 2,000 years. Made of sticks and string, small and shaky, there are still things to be learned from building, portaging, and paddling one.