Dugout Pictures, Paddles and other LInks

No theme to this post: just various links to items of possible interest:


I've done Google image searches for the term "dugout canoe" any number of times with mediocre results. But our friend Silvio Antunha searched for the equivalent of "indigenous canoe" on Google's Brazilian site, and came up with great results:
http://images.google.com.br/images?q=fotos+canoa+ind%C3%ADgena&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:pt-BR:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=rc5oS7aAFNOWtge-jKnaBg&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CBkQsAQwAw
The image below is just one of many intriguing search results. Standing up and poling in rapids in a heavily-built dugout! Wish I could read Portuguese and learn more about this.

Next: Redtail Paddle Co. makes very reasonably priced canoe paddles. Not quite works of art, but good value for good-quality paddles that are not without aesthetics, and worlds away from the things you'll find at most department stores, which more resemble the results of an unholy coupling between a 2X4 and a baseball bat. I wish their website was easier to navigate, but it's worth the effort if you're looking for an inexpensive paddle, either laminated or carved/one-piece. (Note, the prices in the image to the left are Canadian dollars.)

Closer to works of art are the laminated paddles of Whiskeyjack, shown below. These are just lovely. There's a video clip from a Minnesota television program featuring the builder of these paddles here.

Still on the subject of paddles, here's a nice video called "Song of the Spokeshave," showing Graham Warren carving of a one-piece Algonquin-style paddle. Thanks to Kathryn Klos at the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association for calling out this one.

Finally, a couple of events:.

• Every year I attend the Maine Canoe Symposium, in Bridgton, and have a great time. This year's dates are June 11-13.
• As a new member of the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association, I plan to attend their Annual Assembly for the first time. This year it's July 14-18 at Franklin Pierce University in Rindge, NH.

Maine Canoe Symposium Announces Dates, Featured Talks

One of my favorite annual events, the Maine Canoe Symposium, has announced dates for this year: June 6-8. Featured speakers will be The Peake Brothers, and Rolf & Debra Kraiker.

The symposium is a 2.5-day event that includes multiple ongoing programs ranging from camp cooking to canoe poling. Many of the programs are on-the-water and to maintain a good instructor-participant ratio, the organizers post sign-up sheets just a few hours before they begin. This ensures that everyone has a good chance to get into most of the on-the-water programs that they wish, and it works very well. Other programs that are more presentation-style and less "practical" (as in, you don't practice the skills on the water) don't require sign-ups and are open to all. The featured speakers give presentations at night in a big, rustic assembly room, and the talks are invariably engaging.

Probably the best aspect of the symposium, however, is the strong sense of camaraderie among staff and participants -- probably around 200 souls all told every year. It's just so darn friendly, that even misanthropes like your humble blogger start to feel good, being around so many like-minded canoe enthusiasts. The level of instruction is mostly quite high. About the only criticism I can make is that the event is held on a large and lovely pond that offers no opportunity for instruction on moving water. That makes it difficult to teach and learn many canoeing skills.

The setting is Camp Winona, on Moose Pond in Bridgton, Maine (in the western part of the state) -- a boys' summer camp that has hosted the event for years, just before their summer camping season begins. Most symposium participants choose to rent platform tents, which are spacious and dry, but some choose to economise and pitch tents in the open field provided. Food in the cafeteria is spectacular.

For more details: http://www.mainecanoesymposium.org/