Fall seems to have come on quickly in New Hampshire this year. The maples around the shop and along the rivers are turning fiery yellows and reds. There’s a chill in the air and the fall rains have returned. The rivers a coming up a bit. And I’m thinking forward to winter and trying to […]
In 2005, I was in the process of finishing up a master’s degree in Geology, was feeling a bit burned out on school, and wanted to take some time- maybe a year- to travel and paddle. I bought a 1994 Airstream B190, a vehicle I’ve heard (accurately) described as “The ugliest and best camper van […]
I thought this week I’d talk a little bit (or a lot) about what went into the development of the Condor, why it took so long, how it changed the way I design boats and think about designing boats, and the result we got from the process.
No, not making canoes. More days than not, I enjoy making canoes. I enjoy the challenges of it, of trying to continuously improve what I do. I enjoy the act of creating something physical. I enjoy seeing people enjoy the fruits of my labor. And paddling them of course. What I hate doing, but I’ve […]
Here in New Hampshire this time of year, our namesake bug is giving way to mosquitos, which means summer is setting in. We’ve had a great spring for paddling, and it’s showing little sign of letting up as we move into summer. Just this week, I got on one of my favorite local creeks, the […]
Blackfly team paddler Caleb Roberts put together this beautiful video from ALF 2017.
By Matt Hauhgee Kyle “Scooter” Burkart and I took a break from shredding the slopes of Crested Butte in the middle of a heavy snowstorm to escape to the Arizona desert for a much needed whitewater fix. We met up with our good buddy Jeff Smith; a long-time Crested Butte local kayaker who led us […]
The Blackfly CNC router About a year and a half ago, I decided I needed a CNC router for Blackfly, because…well, if you look at US manufacturing data, you can see that we’re making almost twice as much in this country, with a third fewer workers than 30 years ago. With as much as we […]
It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these “From the Shop” posts. Everything has been humming along here at Blackfly World headquarters, all the boats are in stock and ready to go out the door. It’s been a long, and very busy winter here in New Hampshire; it’s certainly not over yet, but […]
