This weekend I attended the Maine Canoe Symposium at Camp Winona in Bridgeton, ME. Maine Canoe Symposium is a volunteer-run, non-profit weekend event held annually in June under the pines and along the shore of Moose Pond. Participants gain an appreciation of canoe heritage and develop canoeing and related skills. Saturday morning started with a “Parade of Canoes” where instructors (and others) showed a variety of paddling styles and canoes.
We then attended classes, some on water: eg. various types of poling, freestyle (almost dancing in a canoe), English gates (an obstacle course), to high kneel on SUP (like the stance they use in canoe racing) and some on land: photo walk, building a fire, setting up a camp kitchen, dehydrating and hydrating food for extended trips…
The instructors were excellent, many of them professional guides,and all experienced canoeists.
They keep you busy most of the day and evening, but there are a few minutes when you can get away and enjoy the setting.
