Saturday, December 17, 2022 | Country Acres • Page 1
Country Acres Saturday, December 17, 2022
Focusing on Today’s Rural Environment
Volume 9, Edition 50
PHOTOS BY BEN SONNEK
Tom Gerds brings out a canoe and a kayak Dec. 2 at his home near Richmond. One of the reasons Gerds got into boatbuilding was because he wanted a boat that was easier to carry.
on the water Gerds makes boats, blueprints for over 20 years BY BEN SONNEK STAFF WRITER
RICHMOND – As an artistic person, Tom Gerds of the Richmond area has plenty to enjoy when he builds canoes and other boats. The blueprints have their own aesthetic quality, the views from the water are often stunning and the boats themselves draw others’ attention. These elements have kept him interested in the activity for over 20 years. “There is a certain charm and beauty that you just don’t get with fiberglass and carbon fiber,” Gerds said. Born in Anchorage, Alaska, Gerds was adopted at birth with his older Tom Gerds holds one of his first boats, a scale model of a wood frame kayak. Gerds built his first kayaks in 2000.
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sister and grew up in Wisconsin. A graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he used the nickname “Eskimo Tom” throughout college – and still uses it today. In 1995, when Gerds was 33, he flew to Alaska to meet his birth mother, Ethel Sallison, and it was around this time that his interest in building watercraft began. While in college, Gerds and his friends would go to the boundary waters once or twice a year to camp and go boating, but the canoes were always heavy to portage across land. Additionally, to get up north, they would end up driving along Lake Superior. “On a few occasions, I kept thinking it would be really cool to see the North Shore looking back toward land,” Gerds said. “That got me into the idea of sea kayaking.” A professional, manufactured sea kayak can weigh from 60 to 80 pounds – which can be an irritating weight to portage or hoist onto a car – so Gerds wanted to find something lighter.
Gerds page 2
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13 Firefighting farmer Osakis
25 Moving ahead on the farm, football field Sauk Centre
9
Grown up Christmas list Grace Jeurissen column
17 Cute, fluffy cows Evansville
28 Animals we love
10 Sundress garden, part three Nancy Packard Leasman column
23 Country cooking Browerville
31 Christmas Q&As