Early Beginnings

October-November 1996

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.

by Bill Kristofferson

Growing up on Texada Island on the British Columbia coast, the water was my playground. All my free time was spent boating, swimming, diving for fish, or fishing from a boat of some kind. In response to this passion, I started designing and building boats while still a teenager. There was a relatively large number of summer cottages on the Island, which filled up in the summer, providing me with a steady source of customers for my dinghies and small prams.

A lot of my time was spent spearfishing so I designed and built some long narrow paddle boards to get to the surrounding reefs and small islands. These were mainly propelled by lying on them and paddling with my arms, but, occasionally, I would use a double paddle. Although these boards were great fun to paddle, they left a person very exposed to the elements. Sitting on top of the deck was uncomfortable and tippy, and I hypothesized there was definite room for improvement.

Then I came across an old Popular Mechanics magazine, and to my delight it contained an article about Eskimo kayaks. This article described the Eskimo kayak as the ultimate in seaworthiness and able to handle any sea conditions. It described how the Eskimos would take particularly big waves by inverting the Kayak and taking the wave on the bottom of the kayak, then righting the vessel after the wave had passed.

This sounded like the perfect boat for me! The article also contained a set of lines (measurements) for the kayak which, with the help of a magnifying glass, I was able to copy. I proceeded to build a skeleton comprised of frames and 3/4" x 3/4" stringers on a strongback. Since there wasn't any seal or walrus skins available, I chose to use cotton canvas. It was soaked in water and applied wet, and when dry, the kayak was tight as a drum. Finally it was painted with three coats of rubberized stretch paint intended for sun decks or patios.

This kayak was launched 41 years ago, in April of 1955. It was the first kayak I had ever laid eyes on. It was beautiful, so long and sleek compared to other vessels on the island. I never doubted the seaworthiness of the vessel, because of the fantastic write up in the magazine. Before I was allowed to experience my dreams of voyages beyond the horizon, my father made it clear that I would have to demonstrate to him that it was possible to enter the kayak from deep water. It took about a month for me to master a technique. I would swim alongside the kayak, reach across and grasp both sides of the cockpit coamings, and like a gymnast on the parallel bars, hoist my body up over the kayak and drive my legs down inside the hull.

This was a high volume kayak, and after having bailed the water out a couple of times, it became obvious that this was too much work, and too time consuming.

I fashioned a full body sock out of light canvas, painted it, and attached it to the coaming. Now I merely swam beside the kayak, pulled the sock out, which expelled the water, pushed the sock back in, and hoisted myself back on board.

I crossed Georgia Strait from Gillies Bay to Qualicum Beach many times, to visit friends on the big island. When the northerlies were blowing, the trip back sometimes took over 12 hours, much to the consternation and worry of my parents. They often threatened to curtail the sea going adventures of their 15 year old son.

This kayak was in almost daily use until 1960, when I turned it in for a motorcycle and set off to see Europe, leaving the kayak to younger brother.

After traversing Europe, I ended up in Sweden, the country of my birth. In Stockholm, I studied Naval Architecture and Structural Engineering.

Over the years of my design career since, most of my focus has been on larger craft, mainly multihull sailing vessels, of which there are now several hundred scattered around the globe.

But I have been continuously revising my designs for kayaks over these last 40 years.

When my wife recently took up paddling, I decided to design a kayak especially for her to minimize differences in performance due to the weight and strength differential between us. I produced a light weight design from mahogany plywood, which is easily paddled, has good ultimate stability and maneuverability, is aesthetically pleasing and economical... and she loves it.

Plans are available for home builders, including a single, a double and a larger expedition model.

Note: You can Contact Bill at Kismet Yachts, PO Box 161, Gillies Bay, BC V0N 1W0. Tel/Fax: 604/486-7434