Talking to a legend
Posted: Wed Nov 29, 2017 4:42 am
I found a phone number yesterday for John Kalash, the maker of the Kalash layout boat from days gone by. When I called I was shocked to find it still a working number and John himself answered the phone. I was in awe talking to him and finding out about his boats and life hunting. John said that he started to build his boats back in the 50's and he built 30 boats per month during his hey day. John is 80 y/o now and we talked for 45 minutes. As an ameture(?) Layout builder myself it was like talking to the guy who started it all and I was thrilled that he wanted to even give me the time of day. That said I plan on making a trip to Michigan to meet him and get some additional information about his life and his boats. Additionally I have talked to Paul Busik several times about getting his story down also. These guys basically built the layout industry and there is a story there that needs to be told before they are gone. Also both of them told me that they wished they hadn't sold their rights to another company that is currently building boats of their design. They told me in no uncertain terms,if you catch my drift. Lastly talking to John made me kind of sad as he lives by himself and is a widower. He has 2 daughters but from the sounds of it they aren't very close. What do you think, would a magazine like Wildfowl or American waterfowler be interested in something like this? I