Dave Ronnenberg didn't work with Burt on the Berkut but was a good composite guy, I'm not sure whether Shirl worked with Burt for the E-Racer?
I'm starting a 14 day intensive course in carbon fibre at the local college soon, that will give me some more grounding, and probably networking opportunities with composite engineers etc. After that I will evaluate where I think that I'm at and then make some decisions.
Something that I'm conscious of is that there are very few people these days starting to build Canard aircraft from plans. If the homebuilt canards are to continue then somehow we need to come up with a kit solution that the average person can build in about a year like an RV. Hopefully a solution can be worked out because the long range, speed and anti-stall features of a canard mean that there is a need for them.