Man from Marseille

One of the pleasures of growing a business is meeting customers from all over the world. Bug Head's first French customer is Jean-Marie Huron, a Greenland-style kayaker from Marseille, France -- a Mediterranean seaport and home to bouillabaisse. Jean-Marie is so happy with his Bug Head tuilik -- a black 3 mil with fixed bottom casing -- that he sent us a few studio photos for the website. Jean-Marie paddles the coast near his home in an Estonia-built Tahe Marine, a hard-chined GFC (glass fiber composite) kayak. Little known in the U.S., Tahe kayaks are particularly popular in Northern Europe. Bug Head customized Jean-Marie's tuilik casing to fit the kayak's small 56" cockpit.

Measure Your Own

A couple of recent sizing mishaps underscore the necessity of personally measuring your cockpit to determine your correct skirt size before you order a tuilik or akuilisaq. Don't take our "Skirt Index" measurements as gospel. Measurements are manufacturer supplied and occasionally outdated. Case in point -- the Necky Chatham Composite kayak, which we listed at skirt size 75, is actually an 80. Can't remember the circumference formula? Add maximum coaming Length and maximum Width (outside lip), then divide that sum by 2. Multiply resulting number by 3.14 (pi) for answer.

Like You Really Care . . .

Enjoy Bug Head products but can't stand the company name? Like the name but hate the logo? On the verge of buying a tuilik until we raised our prices? Waiting for the economy to improve before you buy? Find the website confusing? What you think is important to us so look out for our forthcoming customer survey email. Issues involving product quality, customer service, branding, innovation, comparative value, and pricing will be addressed. We hope you'll help us out by responding.

$45 Neoprene Sheets

Making your own tuilik from a pattern? Or maybe a couple of cockpit covers? You'll need a sheet of top-quality neoprene to complete the project. No problem. Bug Head now offers 3 mil (1/8") neoprene sheets at $45 each plus postage. Each two-sided sheet is approximately 52" x 80" in size. Black nylon on one side, black, light gray, forest green, brown or orange on the other. Sheets will come folded in a plastic mailer bag. (Don't worry -- wrinkles will disappear in a few hours.)

Bug Head In France

Jean-Marie Huron, a Greenland-style kayaker from Marseille, France, is so happy with his Bug Head 3 mil tuilik that he sent us this photo. "I received my tuilik this morning," he writes. "Very nice -- All is Ok. I try it on my kayak. The hood Ok and the chin cinch is perfect." Indeed. Jean-Marie particularly likes the way Bug Head hoods -- if equipped with our chin-cinch-and-temple-pulls -- can be pulled back for bareheaded rolling.

Bug Head Big In Europe

Recent sales prove that Bug Head tuiliks are becoming popular in Europe. Why? Appreciation of style, color options and basic quality. Which countries? Greenland-style kayakers have ordered from the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Norway and Sweden, where Bjorn Thomasson of Black Pearl fame is a happy Bug head customer (1.5 mil black tuilik with fixed bottom casing). "Just picked up my new tuiliq at the post office and it seems to be a perfect fit according to a quick dry run," writes Bjorn in a recent email.

2 Mil Tuiliks In Black

Bug Head now offers the medium-weight (2 mil ) tuilik in black as well as polar-bear blond. We added black because of the popularity of this weight of tuilik -- a comfortable compromise between lightweight (1.5 mil) and heavyweight (3 mil) neoprene.