I suppose that I have to start somewhere.

I wanted to be able to share with my clients the progress of their commissioned work, and then I started thinking that there might be other people who are interested in what goes on inside a wooden canoe shop operated by an artist and a recovering teacher.

Lots of stuff goes on in this shop, ostensibly operated under the business name of Red River Canoe & Paddle and located in Lorette, Manitoba (www.redrivercanoe.ca) . Primarily its function is the building and repair of classic wood & canvas canoes, and the making of premium canoe paddles. I also do custom boat building, composite fabrication, and special projects. A growing passion of mine is the making of classical guitars, I'll post about that, too.

I mentioned that I'm an artist. I attended the University of Manitoba School of Art where I did a pre-masters degree majoring in painting. I'll be posting about my art efforts here as well.

So, where to start? I suppose that I'll start with a current project.

I am finishing off the planking on an 18'6" canoe. This is the second canoe of a new model that I've been calling the "NRC", for Northern Racing Canoe.

This canoe will be going to Norway House, Manitoba, and will be used for racing in the Cedar Canoe Classic races that are popular in many northern communities. The bowman rows and the sternman paddles and steers. The race is run over three days for 30km per day, the crew switching positions at the halfway mark each day. The winners are determined based upon cumulative time. They've been converting a the remaining freighter canoes into racing canoes by pulling them in narrower, and other adjustments. The supply of adequate old canoes is getting small so some racers are looking towards new canoes. They are very competitive!