Vyneck restoration

The kayaks that Nigel Foster and Geoff Hunter used for their Iceland trip were Vynecks; the first to be built, in 1977. (refined from the 1976 prototype). Kama Canoes in Cumbria built the Vyneck for several years until Gaybo Ltd. took over production in 1981. The original had a small cockpit... so small that the only way Nigel could get seated was to kneel on the seat facing the stern, then corkscrew into position. Getting out required the reverse. Gaybo enlarged the cockpit to what is considered nowadays to be an "ocean cockpit" size. Vynecks were produced under license by a number of companies in more recent years, in UK, the Netherlands and in USA. They are currently not in production.

Geoff still owns his original Vyneck. When Nigel Foster and Tim Franklin paddled in Newfoundland in 1978, Gaybo cut their kayaks in half for them so they would fit into the largest container that was possible to load onto the passenger plane... the container measured 10 feet long. Several aluminum plates were positioned and holes drilled before the cutting, so the pieces could be accurately reassembled. The staggered cut, through the deck just in front of the cockpit, along the seam line and down through the hull just in front of the seat, together with the aluminum plates, would hold the kayaks together strongly, and all it took when they arrived in Gander was to bolt the halves together, tape around the outside of the gap, and then seam inside with fiberglass. This was done in an aircraft hangar on the airfield. One of the workers gave them a ride with the kayaks in a pick-up truck to Gander Lake to start their journey, first to the ocean and then along the coast to St Johns.

Nigel (left) with Tim Franklin with two Vynecks cut in half ready to fly to Newfoundland 1978

The stern section of the Vyneck Nigel used in Iceland 1977 nearest to camera.

Nigel's kayak is farthest from the camera with blue tape covering the seam. The image was taken aboard the Norma and Gladys in Trinity Bay Newfoundland. That story is told in the book Encounters from a Kayak, along with the sad tale of the demise of the Norma and Gladys.

On finishing their adventure, they left their kayaks at Torbay, just outside St. Johns, with Ross and Marcie Traverse, who sold one of them (Nigel's) to a Dutch kayaker near Bell Island.

When Nigel cut short his 1981 Labrador trip, hitching a ride to Nova Scotia on an oil tanker, he returned to Newfoundland to stay with Ross and Marcie, leaving his newer Gaybo-built Vyneck with them. The two Vynecks were subsequently destroyed when the storage shed burned down.

Nigel's original Vyneck meanwhile was sitting in storage, to reappear in 2010. Matthew Graham found it "decaying", in his uncle's back yard in Corner Brook Newfoundland. He retrieved and lovingly restored it to paddling condition again. Thank you Matthew!