Incredible story! Living on a canoe!
The poor guy would be so much better if he had a small sailboat. Imagine if the whole SCA community would contribute a few dollars from each readers. We could give him a nice little floating home. Even an old and cheap Guppy with oars would be like a palace to him with it's small cabin.

A most interesting character. The article is very well writeen, literate and imaginative in the writer's choice of words and phrase. I hope to see more of it.

While I can appreciate the living on a canoe aspect of this story, I don't think this is in any way good journalism. Exploiting a man's mental illness in the name of a story is unethical, in my opinion. Did the writer not stop to consider how his subject's family might feel about this? There are homeless people everywhere, many of them living that way because of some mental illness. Would the writer have conducted such an extensive interview with any of them were it not for the canoe angle? I think not. This does not belong on a respectable blog like Small Craft Advisor.

Scott, you raise interesting points and state them thoughtfully. I'd like to raise a couple of others.

I didn't find the story explotive, and I don't know of any professional ethical standards that would condemn a story like this. That doesn't mean they aren't there, and as readers, we always have our own yardsticks, so I think your observations are fair enough.

The story reminded me that there are many stories out there- the good, the bad, the ugly, and the odd. If the writer had stayed with the man's boat and voyage, it would have been unusual in its own right. The story did not say if Mister Friendly's eye's twinkled when he talked about librarians, so I'll always wonder, just a little...

In any case, I wish the man and the writer fair winds, and above all, safe passage.

Hope to see you on the water, Scott.