Larry McIntosh Leads Brattleboro
Outing Club Paddle Program
By Tamsin Venn. Photos courtesy of Larry MacIntosh.
Vermont kayakers are lucky to have long-time kayaker Larry McIntosh as a trip director.
McIntosh leads the Brattleboro Outing Club's paddling program, with a lot of experience behind him. He started hosting paddle trips in the late 80's in the tri-state Brattleboro area (Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts), when he managed a local outdoor store, Wildwater Outfitters. It was a way to get the public into kayaks, since that's some of what he sold. It worked! He even brought stock up to the original LL Bean Sea Kayak Symposia in Castine, Maine, four years in a row so he could paddle saltwater. That's when he got hooked on the Maine coast. He did a week-long solo trip out of Castine around Deer Isle and Isle Au Haut after one of the symposia. He has been a Maine summer person ever since, mostly on Vinalhaven and Down East.
Larry relaxing after a hard day relaxing on Lowell Lake, Londonderry, Vt. Photo by Mary Stowe.
McIntosh went off to the Peace Corps in 1995, to Namibia, to teach English, math and science in a little village school. It was one of the best jobs he ever had, he notes, on par with being a year-round ranger in Yellowstone, for four years. When he came back in 1998, he went back to school, to get certified and licensed to teach ESL in Vermont and New Hampshire schools.
While in Africa, he had two friends carry on the Wildwater Outfitters paddle trips. When he got back, he presented paddle plans to the Brattleboro Outing Club, and the club took on the program in addition to tennis, XC skiing, and rowing as part of its mission. McIntosh also became a board member.
Just 85 and still loading his double by himself! Photo courtesy Larry MacIntosh.
"The idea was to have a program that was free, open to the public, and didn't cost the BOC anything," he says. So he started a consignment sale/swap of various watercraft. It does between $2,500-$4,000 of sales annually which gives him between $250-$400 a year to run the program. So far, the paddle program has always put money back into the club and no membership fee is charged, unlike other BOC programs.
"Paddling is free, as it should be," he says.
It is the 21st year of the Paddling Program and 20th year for the Sale/Swap, he adds happily.
L: Larry, out on the ocean, is steersman in his big Necky double. Photo by Irene Ellis. R: Paddling companion caught this regal bald eagle on a BOC trip.
McIntosh is also an avid racer. He has done three Blackburn Challenges (the 20-plus-mile open-ocean race around Cape Ann, Mass.), ten Adirondack 90-Milers (the classic three-day event in September), and tons of other races. "It's been a blast," he says. He has also started races which are still running today: in 1980 the Yellowstone Park to Paradise-Run/Bike/Paddle, an annual May event in Wyoming and the Nashua River Spring Run-Off on Earth Day in the 1970s, from Harvard to Groton, Mass.
"At 85, I look back on my past, and realize how blessed I've been. The 'good old days' are still with me, just in a different form," he says.
"If I survive this latest virus outbreak, I'll be amazed, and blessed again," he adds.
MacIntosh feels so fortunate to still have children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren living in places he loves to visit, hike, and paddle: Vermont of course, as well as Colorado, Montana, South Dakota, Washington, Wyoming, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine.
Some local talent checking out the gear during a rest stop on a BOC trip.
His favorite paddle places are the Boundary Waters, Northern Forest Canoe Trail, and the Maine coast - the Maine Island Trail, Vinalhaven/Northhaven, islands off Stonington, Blue Hill Bay, Frenchman Bay, the waters around Great Wass Island, Machias Bay, and Cobscook Bay. His local Vermont favorite is Somerset Reservoir, on a weekday. He had two trips planned there this summer.
Due to Covid19, all BOC programming has been cancelled until further notice. The schedule would have included 14 trips, April 25 to Oct. 7, including an overnight trip on the Connecticut River. The BOC consignment "Sale and Swap" of canoes, kayaks, rowing shells, SUPs, is also on hold.
Larry and his Necky double rest surrounded by happy paddlers on a BOC trip.
In the past BOC members have paddled the Thimble Islands (Long Island Sound) as well as Plum Island in Massachusetts and in Maine - Brave Boat Harbor, Cape Porpoise, Muscongus Bay, Vinalhaven, and Frenchman Bay.
Meanwhile, like many seeking social distancing outdoor pursuits, he plans to spend mid July to September out on Maine saltwater, one of his favorite places to paddle.
For more information, visit BrattleboroOutingClub.org
