Unique bush pilot race combines paddling, seaplane handling skills
Greenville, Maine, contest draws crowds during International Seaplane Fly-In
An unusual aero-nautical competition will once again pair pilots and paddlers on Moosehead Lake in Maine September 12, weather permitting.
The lake comes alive during the International Seaplane Fly-In held September 10 to 13, and the Bush Pilot Canoe Race is the highlight for many. Thousands lined the shoreline in 2025 to watch competitors dive into a canoe, paddle to a mid-cove dock, and rejoin their taxiing seaplane partner in a timed competition that combines skill sets that may be needed by bush pilots in the wilderness.
Timing is everything.
In 2025, the defending champion Dunn family, with son Dustin on the water and his father, Tommy, in the left seat, set a brisk pace in their 1953 Cessna 180 floatplane while relative newcomer Baily Cust and her uncle, Jeff Hardy, in his 1969 Cessna 180 seaplane, finished strong after a mid-race knot-tying snafu slowed them down.
Cust, who moved up to the advanced class after a strong novice performance in 2024, said organizers were “fairly certain” it’s the only competition of its kind in the world. She said most other seaplane fly-in competitions are solo, pilot-only, endeavors while the canoe race “mixes a paddler’s endurance with the taxi skills of their pilot.”
