THE LOON WORKS

Fond of canoes since I was a child, I learned to paddle by making a few strokes on one side of the boat and then repeating the action on the other side, frustrated that I couldn’t cross the water in a straight path. Then, in May of 2012, I attended the Wisconsin Freestyle Canoe Symposium at Camp Anokijig in Plymouth, Wisconsin. Here precision boat control was taught by American Canoe Association (ACA) certified instructors, including Tom Mackenzie, builder of Loon Works canoes.

Tom was quite a storyteller, and throughout that weekend symposium, with Tom smoking a pipe and wearing his “canoeing bathrobe,” we learned a great deal about his journey. In 1973, while teaching courses in earth sciences at Edgewood College, Tom decided to pursue his interest in birch bark canoes, learning how to build them by “hanging around” with canoe maker Bill Hafeman from northern Minnesota.

Tom’s interest in boat building led him to start The Loon Lake Boatworks in 1977, where he did restoration work. Two years later, he renamed his business The Loon Works, a nod to his affinity for the loons of northern Minnesota, where he often harvested materials for his canoes.

Learning from restoration experience what worked well and what could be improved, Tom designed and built his first wood and canvas canoe in 1984 and 1985—an experience that showed him he was a better builder than designer. Fortunately, Tom met David Yost, a legendary canoe designer, shortly thereafter, and they hit it off. Their first boat together, the MY (MacKenzie -Yost) Bug, went into production in 1986.

Tom believed that building canoes and teaching went together; he wanted folks to play in his boats, feeling how the boat and paddle responded to the water. When working with kids, Tom would provide very little instruction, allowing them to figure out how to move a boat through playful experimentation with a paddle. But as the second chair of the American Canoe Association’s freestyle activity committee, Tom valued precision boat control as well and often helped people learn how paddle strokes can be used to guide a canoe in doing “what it already wants to do.” Tom learned that if people had an opportunity to paddle his canoes, they would buy them.

Tom appreciated how boats connect people. In the late 1970s, Jill Dean noticed one of Tom’s birchbark canoes on top of a vehicle outside of his house. She returned with her husband, Jeff Dean, and soon thereafter Jeff and Tom worked together to found the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association, an organization whose assemblies at Paul Smith’s College in Saranac, New York, provide opportunities for people interested in wooden canoes to gather on an annual basis. Jill and Jeff Dean went on to establish and fund the Canoe Heritage Museum in Spooner, Wisconsin, where a number of Tom Mackenzie’s Loon Works canoes are on display.

Shortly after I attended the Wisconsin Freestyle Canoe Symposium in May of 2012, my family and I had an opportunity to visit Tom MacKenzie in his Anderson, South Carolina, workshop. Together we helped build one of Tom’s Solitaire canoes, and, as he carefully selected strips of wood that would become the ribs of the boat, we learned the value of “working slow to work fast.” Tom paddled on in October of 2015.

Sherri Venero is an accomplished freestyle canoeist who cherishes her Loon Works canoes and the time she spent with Tom Mackenzie, both on and off the water. Currently serving as the chief financial officer for Northland College, Sherri still sneaks away to participate in the canoe gatherings that Tom inspired and supported.

TOM BELIEVED THAT BUILDING CANOES AND TEACHING WENT TOGETHER; HE WANTED FOLKS TO PLAY IN HIS BOATS, FEELING HOW THE BOAT AND PADDLE RESPONDED TO THE WATER.