COVID CANOE
In no way can I claim to be a boatbuilder. I’ve dabbled in the shallow waters of a sheltered pond at best, but I did start a project some years back that turned me into an interested party at least.
Since boyhood I’d wanted a canoe – a proper birchbark, American Indian-styled paddler’s canoe. When I was a young lad, my dad found me a small, plywood, boxy-style boat that withstood many subsequent adventures, but was never the design of my dreams, and it fell to bits from neglect some years later.
Torea – as it was called – started my love of boating and it did me valiant service, even as I betrayed its stout little heart by spending little time servicing its needs.
In boyhood manner was just a means to an end: river explorations, harbour tours and estuary fishing. Dad spent time getting it ready for his youngest’s birthday. Tiny and misshapen though it was, I recognised the importance of what he had done
