The 2010 Adirondack FreeStyle Symposium will be sited on scenic Wolf pond in Raybrook New York , 11-14 July. Accommodations are in cabins at Sherwood Forest Motor Lodge, with camping available in Meadowbrook DEC Campground just across NY Rt 86.
Onwater coursework will include ACA FreeStyle 1-5 and Essentoials, both solo and tandem as well as special topics and an ACA Instructor Update.
Details will be available soon. Email charliewilson77@gmail.com to be added to the communications list.
It has been Sunday through Wednesday for years, one primary reason being the original organizer, Tom Mackenzie held the FS Symposium immediately prior to the WCHA Annual Assembly, as he was the active organizer in that also. For years they also were both at the same venue. The “veterans” are certainly used to the timing.
The Essentials Solo course morning sessions and the Touring Stroke afternoon session would be helpful, and it's a fine group of folks to share three days of total immersion in canoeing with!
The strange schedule works pretty well because the Adks are close for very few. Most get off work on Friday, take Sat to pack and drive, Sunday to arrive, and Thursday-Friday to get home in time to mow the lawn, etc before work the next Monday!
Any extra time? Well, it is the largest State Park in the US, There is lots to see and do.
Its all about making your boat behave with precision and using all of the hull attributes. Most quietwater paddlers only use the bottom of the boat in one position. FS allows your boat to reveal its multiple personalities with heel and pitch.
Only a tiny percent of FS paddlers ever even want to paddle to music, much less in front of dozens of eyes.
AFS is three days for a good reason. As it is demanding on your quad muscles, we have two FS Symposia a year devoted to crippling you. Three classes over a day and a half can render the unwary unable to walk.
AFS is the kinder gentler symposium. As FS classes are in the morning you can do other things in the afternoon. Those other things include optional paddling classes or you can go take a walk or golf etc.
Prep via hiking roller blading or biking is encouraged for your comfort anyway.
While its not a commercial event with vendors its likely to bring in a whole host of different solo and tandem canoes.
OT Packs are welcome. Maybe you wont be tempted to look for another boat..after we work the Pack or more likely you will get tempted. Either way you will know what you want and what to look for and what to ask sales reps about.
It is cool! This will be my third AFS, and it has completely changed the way I paddle a canoe (for the better!).
The symposium classes are about learning to control your boat (no music needed). The exhibitions in the evening are not the classes. But they are a product for some. I can ski, doesn’t mean I am in the Olympics with baggy pants. But the exhibitions are cool.
Paddling to music isn’t that nerdy either (I think you were kidding anyway.) Heck, I drive, mow the lawn, and even type to music.
Those nerds? I hope to go for my third AFS this year as well.
I’m not terribly interested in performing of any sort.
But I use the techniques I’ve learned from Kim, Charlie, Mark and the others when I’m out on the big lakes in the wind, playboating class III’s and snaking my Magic through the tiny twisty brooks I love to explore.
Those nerds huh?
I’d be thrilled to gain half the control any of them have over their canoes.
I was just kidding about "those nerds". Watching some of the demonstrations can be jaw dropping. I too would love to be able to handle a boat and make it so effortless! Those people clearly know their boats inside and out. There are tons of amazing you tube videos on the subject.
Kayamedic posted a link on here for the Maine symposium, their website shows some amazing stuff. The guy that demonstrates poling is something I'd particularly enjoy watching...he generates some fast boat speed with that pole.
Poling on a pond…huh? Not to knock the Maine Symposium but you ought to see that guy zip up a class II+ rapid like it was nothing. Better yet you ought to try to follow him. That’s an education!
I’m going to AFS … but only IF … I ever return from FFS, the Florida Freestyle Symposium, held four weeks ago.
I’m still in Florida seeking new paddles and paddlers.
My freestyle instructors will be happy to learn that I used 20 different sophisticated strokes in all four quadrants while solo-attacking the jungle-choked Blackwater. Two actually worked.
I’m hoping there are classes on the chainsaw stroke and the spider-smashing stroke at AFS.
It was a sad NACS, because LL Bean had decided to end the event. There was Gordon Black in a Wenonah Advantage and a bent Carbon paddle, when up steams Harry, standing tall with a big stick in his MRC Freedom, an Explorer with wider front thwarts to improve rocker. Harry challenges Gordon to a race.
Gordon was feeling pretty froggy, what with all that race gear, but all he sees is backside as Harry disappears into the mist on Long Pond.
The boats were about the same length but the Wenonah was way narrower and Gordo had the better shaped blade but Harry had better bi-mechanics; standing he used his entire body, and better cadence; the stick can be used as a double blade.
Bio-mechanics and cadence beat blade physics when the hulls are ~ equal!
Yeah, I meant to type ROCK, not Rick. The O and I are together on the keyboard and we cannot seem to edit titles???
Suprisingly Sherwood Forest, the Motor Lodge on Wolfe Pond has 34 beds, assuming double occupancy, and folks are reserving lodging before the registration form is ready!