Guideboat roundtable is today
To the editor:
Dr. Joseph Spadaro will moderate a roundtable discussion of guideboat builders and restorers at the third annual Guideboat Show held in the Hotel Saranac ballroom on Friday, July 5 at 2 p.m. Anyone interested in learning more about the builders, would like to fine tune their skills, or are just enthusiasts, are welcome to attend.
The show, open daily from noon to 8 p.m. through July 8, has two boats in unfinished condition that can be compared to those restorations that are on display. The moderator will lead those attending in the building process to a boat in row-able attractive condition.
Joe built several boats of his own after taking the first North Country Community College guideboat building class in 1980. He has followed the process from digging up the roots to building superlative guideboats. Joe and his wife Sally are at the show daily answering questions from visitors and showing their building materials, books and patterns that result in the perfect guideboat.
John Seaman, a 75-year-old guideboater from Long Lake, will be an honored guest of the Hanmer race committee July 6 and 7 and may appear at the round table. Traveling from his Wisconsin home, he will be bringing his Warren Cole guideboat that he rowed to victory multiple times in both the ’70s and ’80s. He and his family (father Howard) were the racers to beat in the day when the Long Lake, Tupper Lake, Saranac Lake rivalry drew hundreds of spectators to the area races.
On Sunday this racing legend may well compete in both the two man and one man down the river guideboat categories, parterning up with a local racer.
Moving to Wisconsin in 2021, he started volunteering at Handson Deck, a group that teaches kids woodworking and boat building. As the director of the Community Rowing program, they have built and and race two CLC Team Dories. Saranac Lake’s Green Side of the Big Apple, LLC will attempt to adopt many of these programs beginning with a Guideboat Academy this August to teach rowing skills to Saranac Lake area kids and adults so that the art in danger of being lost will not.
Chris Dyer
Saranac Lake