[Paddlewise] My vacation part 4 L.L. Bean symposium.

Day 5 deleted, no kayaking related material.  Except that I did finally
find
Anemone cave!

Day 6, Friday 14 July 2000
 The day dawned clear and warm.  I got up early and packed away what
little I hadn't packed the night before.  I was headed for Castine,
Maine and the 19th annual L. L. Bean Sea Kayaking Symposium.  I handed
Jeff my Mount Desert Island guide book and good map, and we said "Good
luck and have fun" to each other.  Eight AM and I was on the road.  I
had forty miles to go and four hours to get there.
 I arrived at the symposium site at nine thirty - before most of the
vendors arrived.  I was told that they would not be ready to register me
until noon, so I went to a picnic table to write.  A very large,
decidedly black, crow landed on a branch about fifteen feet away from
me.  This is on a college campus.  I could tell what the crow was
thinking, it was a fairly simple equation.  Human plus picnic table
equals food.  I looked up at the crow and explained in my kindest, most
gentle voice that I was just writing in my journal.  I didn't have any
food to share.  The crow yelled at me.
 At eleven thirty I went back to the registration booth.  I explained
that, since I was the first person to sign up for the symposium, I would
like to be the first to register.  The girl was a might apologetic, it
seems that they had been forced by circumstances beyond their control to
register two people who had come in that morning with one of the
vendors.  But I could be the first regular attendee to register!  I
don't get anal about this kind of stuff, but I do enjoy it when it
happens.
 After registering I got my room key.  Heading out to my truck to get my
bags I bumped into Anne Zeller.  She informed me that Cindi Thorell
would not be able to come to the symposium, her mother was in the
hospital.  That was a downer, I hate to hear that a friend is having
trouble.  I especially hate to hear that a friend is having trouble when
I can't do anything to help.
 The rest of the day went by in a blur of settling in and talking to
different vendors.  I discovered that Lincoln Kayaks has just come out
with a new kayak.  In fact, there were only two in existence at the time
of the show.  This boat is a radical departure from anything Lincoln has
made before.  It is actually a true sea kayak of modern design, and
quite sleek.  A pretty little boat, I was told later by someone that
tried it that the stability curve is much like Kathie's Squall.  It
gives no warning when you have exceeded the limits of stability.
 The food served at the symposium was great.  Before each meal I would
remind myself that I was going to eat light.  At each meal I ended up
with a full platter.  There were so many good things to eat that I wound
up getting too much.  Forget desert (I did a couple times), there was
too much in the main course!  I would get a little of this and a little
of that and end up with a lot of everything.
 I attended the "welcome to the symposium" lecture and then headed to my
room.  I wanted to get some more writing in before I went to bed.

Day 7, Saturday 15 July 2000
 Up at 5:30 AM to be ready for breakfast at 6:30.  Nice showers, it is a
nice change to step out of the shower and not freeze.  The showers at
the campground were in unheated buildings.
 After breakfast is was another round of talking to vendors.  I attended
a couple of the seminars then headed for the beach.  I spent most of the
day at the beach checking out kayaks that I hoped would be too small for
me.  I was checking out what was available that Kathie might like so I
can try to help her find her next kayak.  Don't ever let anyone tell you
that men don't like to shop.  Men love to shop, as long as they are
interested in what they are shopping for!  I had a grand time just
comparing boats that I knew I would never want to buy for myself.  I
picked up all kinds of literature so that I can continue my comparisons
later.  One of the boats that surprised me was the Perception Shadow
composite.  I think Kathie might like that one.  It was recommended to
me by one of the women at the Lotus Designs tent. I hijacked her from
the tent for a while because she is close to Kathie in size. I had her
sitting in boats to see how they fit her.  Another boat that Kathie may
like is the Kajak Sport Viking, which was well recommended also.
 I got a chance to talk to Barry Buchanan, the man who designed my
Caribou.  He is a really nice guy.  I thanked him for creating such a
nice boat, and we talked about it for a while.  I found out a number of
interesting things, like there are only about 24 original Buchanan
Caribou's.  And only 13 of them are fiberglass!  The first dozen or so
were stitch and glue!  Barry still has one unfinished Caribou.
 It is amazing to me the honesty, helpfulness, and trust the people have
at the symposium.  I was talking to one of the vendors about gloves,
even though he doesn't sell gloves.  He mentioned a pair that he
particularly liked, that were so comfortable that he actually uses them
as driving gloves on occasion!  When I expressed interest he handed me
the keys to his truck and said; "It is the big silver Ford crew cab.
The gloves are on the front seat."  Nice truck.
 In the evening I went to a seminar titled "Kayaking on the Edge."  It
was about taking expeditions into areas that people don't normally
kayak.  The speaker is forming a company to do just that.  He provides
the boats and the local knowledge, the participants provide everything
else.  These are not guided tours where the guide holds you by the hand
all the way through and wipes your nose when you sneeze.  This is done
as a true expedition where everyone is expected to pull their own
weight.  He has several nice looking trips.  The Caribbean coast of
Panama looked real nice, as did the fjords of Greenland.  But one trip
in particular really made me sit up and take notice.  He guides to the
Gulf of Tonkin in Viet Nam!!!!!  His pictures of all the places were
beautiful and haunting, but Viet Nam still calls to me.

Day 8 - Sunday 16 July 2000
 Last day of the symposium, and the wind is kicking up again.  I went
down to the beach just after breakfast, one of the vendors was supposed
to bring down an interesting spray skirt for me.  I had to check and see
if it would fit on my boat.  The skirt is a normal neoprene skirt except
that the tunnel does not stop at the ribs.  Instead the tunnel continues
up the torso, ending with a pair of shoulder straps just like the top
half of a farmer john wetsuit.  It looked like it would be quite warm.
Unfortunately they forgot to bring it down to the beach.  I suppose it
was just as well, they only had it in purple.
 Coming back from the beach I attended a seminar on how to find or start
a local paddling club.  I already belong to three clubs, but I felt that
it wouldn't hurt to check it out.  And it helped to get to know a couple
people from clubs in areas that I might want to visit.
 Then Chris Duff spoke on the subject of "Solo Paddling, is it for
you?"  Chris has paddled something like forty thousand miles solo, so he
has a good idea of what it takes.  Honestly, I don't intend to do much
solo paddling, I attended to listen to him speak.  I really enjoyed his
book "On Celtic Tides," so I figured that I might like to hear him
speak.  I was right.  Chris is a very human speaker.  He does not come
off as brash or full of himself.  He comes across as someone who has
thought a great deal about what he has to say.  He does not claim to
know "the only way," or even the best way, to do something.  He only
tells you what works for him, and he tells you what he thinks you should
consider before you set out on your own.
 One of the things that struck me was his observation that, even when in
a group, sometimes you are in essence a solo paddler.  The example he
gave was a sudden turn in the weather.  He stated that in really rough
conditions he would not be much help to another kayaker if they were in
trouble, it would be all he could do just to keep himself out of
trouble.  At times like those you really are a solo paddler, the people
around you are just witnesses.
 If there were an opposite of Chris Duff it would be the speaker for my
next, and last, seminar.  Derek Hutchinson is about as loud, brash and
full of himself as they come.  As one person put it to me; "Not much
room in Castine for egos after Derek appears..." He either owns, or is
the Holy Grail of sea kayaking.  At least in his opinion.  He knows the
only right way to do anything, and as often as not he invented the way.
He is also one of the most entertaining speakers you will ever have the
good fortune to meet.
 Derek was not supposed to speak at this symposium, he was actually
attending as a normal attendee.  They asked him to fill in for an hour
when one of the other speakers canceled.  Normally his North Sea
crossing story takes two hours, so he only told us the first half.  The
first half was his unsuccessful first try.  Without the aid of pictures
other than a hand drawn map of the coastline of Britain and Europe he
entertained us for an hour.  He kept everyone on the edge of their
seats, and often almost falling off those seats with laughter.
 After lunch I took one last tour through the vendors booths, there were
a couple things I wanted to pick up.  I got to meet the authors of two
books that I wanted to buy, and get autographed copies.  One of them
gives me even more places to look at in Acadia!
 I stepped out into the wind and noticed that it had started to rain.
It was time to go home.

Mike
--
    Paddling along through fog so thick that only one's thoughts are
visible, your reverie is abruptly shattered by the ancient cry of a
great
blue heron as she lifts uncertainly from the brilliant blue of a
mussel-shell beach witnessed only by the brooding, wet spruce....your
passage home seems as much back through time as it does through space.
Mark H Hunt


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