I promised to send you some pictures from our first year's adventures in our SOAR 16, so here they are. Actually I don't have any impressive ones mostly because we paddled alone and so there wasn't anyone to capture us in action. Despite the lack of pictures we had a wonderful year in our S16 exploring Lake Erie and most of the rivers in Northeast Ohio. We did do a class II section of Virginia's Staunton River which was exciting and beautiful.

One wonderful thing we learned this year is that many sections of rivers, even in developed Northeast Ohio, are infrequently used by the population making them remarkably undisturbed and seemingly isolated. We saw an array of wild life including 6 Bald Eagle sightings.

Our S16 is the most versatile craft I have ever seen. There aren't many boats that can safely take a family on a thrilling ride through 6 ft waves on Lake Erie and still allow you to stealthily slide through 6 inches of water down a creek to get you within viewing range of Great Blue Heron rookeries and eagle nests.

As the snow flies, I am already dreaming of the adventures we will have next year in our SOAR.

Jon Miller
Uniontown, Ohio