About Pygmy Boats Inc.

Where all Roads End the Real Adventures Begin!
In 1970, Pygmy Designer, John Lockwood, took his first extended solo kayak trip--900 miles down the Yukon River. Fleeing the stuffy halls of Harvard, he loaded a collapsible Klepper on the Trans Canadian railroad and headed for Whitehorse in the Yukon. While studying computer science and anthropology in Cambridge, the nickname "Pygmy" attached itself to John due to his admiration of the peaceful Pygmy (or Mbuti) people of the African rain forest. They live as free-ranging hunter gatherers. So Pygmy lived mostly off of snared rabbits, and fished for pike and grayling, as he paddled his way toward Circle, Alaska. The mighty Yukon with her resident abundance of grizzly, black bear, badger, wolf, and eagles brought John the "Peace of Wild Things". A fall at a construction site destroyed his right hip in 1968 and put John on crutches for 8 years. This trip taught him that a kayak could still get him into deep wilderness, using upper body strength.

The Peace of Wild Things
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water,
and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief.
I come into the presence of still water
And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light.
For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
--Wendell Berry, Openings, 1968
(copyright, Wendell Berry, Farrar Strauss Publisher, NY, NY)

Roaming the Queen Charlotte Islands
In 1971 John found the lush Queen Charlotte Islands lying 90 miles off the coast of British Columbia in deep rain forest. Here he built his first stitch-n-glue kayak--an early version of our Queen Charlotte. He wanted a light, rugged kayak which he could pull up beaches, hopping on his good leg. Paddling 4 months out of the year, he ate from the sea's bounty of mussels, clams, oysters, octopus, salmon, star fish eggs, 7 kinds of rock fish, whelks, etc. A home sewn teepee and a string of poles set up along the coastline gave him shelter as he explored the remains of Haida long houses, totem poles, innumerable islands, bays, and streams pouring from steep mountains cloaked in ancient cedar and fir forest. Two and one half years passed quickly. John returned to the U.S. to replenish his funds as a computer software engineer.

Gestation in Seattle
By 1985, John had moved to Seattle, been a computer geek for several big firms and really wanted to be building kayaks. He quit his corporate jobs to spend a year designing the world's first commercially available plate expansion software. His software revolutionized steel ship building. Naval architectural firms in the US and Australia hired him to design steel freighters. Always an avid paddler, he longed to be creating kayaks. The beauty of human powered craft held fascination, passion, a path into the wilderness! Though more lucrative, making big metal boats simply held no joy.

Birth of Pygmy Sea Kayaks
In December of 1986--John Pygmy Lockwood sold the first Queen Charlotte Kayak kit. In a 3-car garage workshop behind his house, he cut out the planet's first computer designed, ultra-light, ultra-accurate boat kit...Pygmy Sea Kayaks was born! John did it all--design, cutting, shipping, and ads at that point. The operation moved to Port Townsend in 1987 to be in a small seaport. By 1991 John had one shop employee.

Many Models to Choose
The following year, we released the GoldenEye-Standard and Hi Volume. These multi-chine kayaks in the Alaskan style simply gave our customers more choices. By 1994, we had added the GoldenEye-13' for small adults and youth. When John's daughter Freya turned 5 and learned to swim well enough he designed the GoldenEye-10' for her 5th birthday. Soon after, the Osprey series emerged with our Double, Triple, HP for speed, and then the Osprey-Standard, a great general purpose day and touring kayak.

Our critically acclaimed Coho, released in 1997 and the hard-chined Arctic Tern, released the Fall of 1998 brought our offering of kit kayaks up to a lucky 13.  In 2000 We began offering our popular Arctic Tern 14, and introduced the recess rear deck feature now available on all our new kayak models. With availability of  high deck models in both the Coho and Arctic Tern  designs, and the release of our newest designs, the Pinguino Sport, and Borealis XL Pygmy Boats now offers 16 kayak models, a recreational rowing design, the Wineglass Wherry, and our tripper canoe the Taiga.

Currently...Pygmy EXPANDS
Since 1994, our kit boat sales have grown ten fold.. To keep up with increasing demand we tripled the number of kits we keep on hand to over 250 boxed and on the shelf. We quadrupled our production capacity and added over 5,000 square feet of shop space. We have kept our waterfront location in the Point Hudson marina in the historic Victorian seaport district. People travel from Seattle, Portland, Oregon, and British Columbia on a daily basis to test paddle Pygmies. In addition, each week someone from California, the Midwest, or East Coast arrives. Our website provides info to kayakers internationally.

We build these rugged beauties to transport ourselves into the realm of Nature. We personally use and test every Pygmy boat under rigorous saltwater conditions, before marketing. Our business exists to help folks of all skill levels get on the water and get happy! Whether you primarily paddle urban waters for exercise and relaxation, or escape into remote places on vacation, we know that paddling a Pygmy boat, built with your own hands, enhances the experience ten fold and more. So...

Build an Adventure!