Inspired by the kayaks of the Aleut Eskimos of Alaska and by George Dyson. Using anthropologists drawings of a baidarka as a starting point, I designed North Star to retain the excellent handling qualities of this native design and yet have the stability and features the recreational paddler wants.

North Star received an award for outstanding craftsmanship and detail at the 1994 Wooden Boat Show in Southwest Harbour, Maine.

The unique features of the baidarka are: The split or bifurcated bow. The lower half is a cutwater, parting the waves for a smooth flow of water over the hull. This lower vertical edge also improves tracking as it slices into waves keeping the bow from being deflected by winds. The upper half of the bow flares outward. Waves hitting this surface create lift and coupled with the great volume of the forward hull, lift the kayak over waves. The bow makes a smooth transition into a highly rocker keel accounting for 1/3 of the fore hull. This rocker coupled with the design of the bow make the baidarka style an incredibly great kayak for surfing waves.
The volume of the stern is carried backward and is truncated, then sweeps into a fixed rudder. The rudder makes tracking excellent. The swept sides of the rudder create a surface that is an asset in surfing. One of the hardest parts of surfing is catching the wave. The surfaces of the rudder get a push from braking waves to help you catch the wave.

As a kayaker paddles faster hulls with a fine or pointed stern will squat in the depression created by the stern waves. The high volume of the baidarka style stern, keeps it high in the water increasing speed . Also this truncated stern sends hull waves farther back as speed increases, forcing the waves to act as they would on a boat with a longer water line, increasing speed. For photos of these details follow this link.

The North Star design has a much greater volume/width carried forward and aft as you can see in the drawing above. This means that you will have more foot room. All other kayak designs, are based on Greenland kayaks, which narrow to a point very quickly and offer less foot room for someone with long legs.

The North Star is ideal for the larger paddler. I suggest this kayak for paddlers 180 to 250+ pounds. It has a generous cockpit with ample leg room and foot room. The North Star can handle 400 pounds + of paddler and gear.

North Star is 20" at it's widest point at the waterline. This long, narrow, rounded hull is very fast. Volume is carried far forward and aft on this design. This volume gives North Star exceptional secondary stability. The bifurcated bow, along with this volume make this kayak ideally suited to big waters. The North Star rides over waves, rather than punching through them, for a drier ride. North Star also surfs waves incredibly well. The fixed rudder makes tracking very good, even in strong cross winds. This design has the most volume of any solo sea kayak available, making it THE outstanding expedition kayak. And yet, it's a joy to paddle on a small pond. This is the most versatile kayak I have ever paddled. This is one fast beautiful kayak.

The baidarka hull is"fish form"(the widest part of the hull is forward of centre) said to be the most efficient design for speed. North Star has moderate primary stability. The high volume of the hull produces incredibly high secondary stability. The features of the bow and stern combine with the shape of the hull, to produce very fast (easy to paddle) kayak, designed to handle rough seas with ease. This kayak has the highest volume of any single kayak design around, making this an outstanding expedition kayak or a kayak with room and capacity for the tall or large person.

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