Friday, April 27, 2018

WCHA Assembly

The 2018 Wooden Canoe Heritage Association Assembly is finally back in Canada this summer and will be in nearby Peterborough, Ontario  July 17-22. The theme for this year's Assembly is the iconic Chestnut Canoe Company. I'll be bringing by 14 foot Chesnut Playmate to get some feedback from the experts regarding a thorough restoration.


The full Pdf format files of the Schedule along with a listing of program descriptions are now online. Becky Mason will be there discussing her famous father's paddling legacy. Ken Buck, the camera man for Bill Mason's canoeing films will be discussing his behind-the-lens perspective.  Guide book author, Kevin Callan (of Happy Camper fame) will be leading a paddling tour of the nearby Indian River. In addition, Mike Elliot author of This Old Canoe will be here from the West Coast to discuss Chesnut canoe restoration.  Expert Canoe Historian, Dick Persson of Buckhorn Canoe Company will be revealing some of the more esoteric history of the Chesnut Canoe Company.

Saturday's schedule might be of specific interest for anyone curious about paddles. Graham Warren, whose books and videos on the subject of paddle making have been a major inspiration in my own paddle carving journey, will be making the journey from the U.K. University of Guelph Engineering Professor, John Runciman will be discussing his findings of research into traditional aboriginal paddle shapes and performance. Along with these two experts, I've been aksed to discuss historic paddle decoration to round out the theme.

As such, I've been slowly working on a portable paddle display to showcase some of the paddles featuring in historic artworks and museums. More on that in a future post...



1 comment:

Graham Warren said...

Really looking forward to meeting you and seeing your paddles.

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