Maine Canoe Symposium

by Garry Crane
From the Nov 1998 WrapAround

Note: An update on this year's symposium is being prepared.

The Maine Canoe Symposium (MCS) was great, Four members of our club were in attendance. The participants from our chapter were: Claire Gleason, Nancy Levesque, Sue Keroes and I.

The following workshops were offered:

• Traditional Poling (use 1 end of wooden pole)
• Freestyle Poling (use both ends of metal pole)
• Sit-n-switch paddling (Flatwater racing)
• White water paddling (review of our class 2 strokes)
• Solo Canoeing (Offered by Betty Mason )
• Body centered paddling
• Canoe Sailing
• Freestyle paddling
• Wilderness Tripping
• Northwoods skills
• Northwoods paddling
• Children's Workshops

I enjoyed Poling the most. Does any one know good sources of poles? The Solo Canoeing was more aimed at paddling OC1 canoes on edge in flat water. A portion of the demonstrations involved canoe ballet. The fee structure was $55 registration, Food $39 and lodging ($4 to $8/night) per person. Paddles, Poles, PFDs were supplied by the event. We were glad that we also brought our own equipment.

The MCS is currently being run by a group of paddlers. Up until a couple years ago, LL Beans sponsored the MCS. Information about MCS can be obtained from [deleted]. Maybe next year, our chapter can be better represented and/or offer something up to the program. Any ideas?

In summary, the Maine Canoe Symposium was a great weekend. It was great to be with a large group of people who loved paddling, loved to compare touring, tripping and flatwater canoeing stories, try out different boats.