Improve your boat control techniques to enhance all types of canoeing

[Glenn MacGrady]

I focus on what I need for the types of boats that I have and the types of trips that I do. I'm always looking to improve, but I don't need to be an expert at everything.

I agree.

My goal is not that every canoeist becomes an expert in every aspect of canoe sport, but to create and maintain a site that has available information on many aspects of canoe sport. Like a menu in a good restaurant. Erik, I consider you—a flatwater canoeist, whitewater canoeist, overnight tripper, day tripper, sea kayaker, and prolific canoe blogger to be an excellent example of paddling versatility and a valuable resource here.

One key skill you forgot Glenn, is the fine art of portaging. You can't ignore this on a canoe tripping site

Again, I agree.

That's why we're fortunate to have you here, Rob—wilderness tripper, portageur extraordinaire, trail maintainer and mapper, boat builder, trip leader, canoe educator, motorized moose hunter. Things that I and others are not.

It's not that we all must be interested in and contribute about every canoe-related subject. It's that we have different forums here so that different people who are willing to contibute in their particular areas of canoe interest can do so for the information, education and entertainment benefit of the collective.

 

[Odyssey]

That rich list you praise was already in place before you took the helm Glenn. So there's that. You have however contributed muchly.
Poindexter play (freestyle, play boating) is as you say wholesome practising towards paddling improvement. I myself indulge in refreshing my muscle memory solo while she winds down in camp. But I employ this as a means to an end. Improving our tripping experience.
We all have different definitions of "messing around in boats". Mine is tripping, as well defined by Mem.
Expanding threads to attract occasional paddlers isn't in itself a bad thing at all. But at what point does "canoe tripping" become diluted?
No idea. That's your call.
It's been 5 years since i last had a real haircut. Not so recently I've had bad ones. Shoulder length and pony tails no longer do it for me.
So I contacted a daughter whose husband and sons get "real haircuts" and was directed to their favourites. I passed on the kids' place, it looked too loud, colourful, and Vegas-like. I also passed on the hair/tan salon, it was too glam and smelled like chemicals. I finally settled on the olde worlde basic father and son business. In broken English they got down to work. No fuss, no bother, no fancy. The kid who cut my hair couldn't have been long out of school, but he sure knew his way around clippers and scissors. I gave him a huge tip, which confused them.
And yes, the salon which offered bubble tea and instragramme selfies looked ridiculously very popular and busy. The kiddie place almost as crowded. Do they all know something I don't?
But I was just happy to find a back to basics barber thriving in this weird werld. So in the end there seems something for everyone if your definition of "haircut" is broad enough. The only tea with bubbles for me is strong, black, and hot. I'll get a suntan the old fashioned way, thanks. And the only spray you'll use on me either has SPF 40 or DEET on the label. But to each their own I guess.
My grandkids love my new haircut btw. That's one good thing.

 

[tketcham]

Deleted. Not relevant.

After discussing it with Glenn I decided to re-post my original reply. I deleted it because it didn't seem relevant to the majority of CanoeTripping.net topics and I didn't want to come across as a FreeStyle fanboy on this site. I'm not, but taking those courses has done as much (and more) to improve my paddling proficiency as all the hours spent in Class 2/3 whitewater or the thousands of miles cruising down lakes and reservoirs. They are complementary in my experience. So here's what I posted...

Glenn, I'm not PO'ed about any of the observations you present because I've been guilty of some of them at one point or another, starting with paddling bow and then stern in a Grumman a few times and thinking I knew how to paddle a canoe. Here's my somewhat long-winded story of why I (mostly) agree with you...

I bought my first canoe and began solo canoeing in 1989 when I was encouraged by a kayaker friend to take up whitewater paddling. I grew up in the northeast where open boaters were common so I bought a well-used Blue Hole OCA. Initially I just tried to stay upright and follow him through the drops the best I could and did pretty well. But I realized that some lessons were needed after a long swim through a Class 3 rapid. So I attended a couple of whitewater workshops and the fun factor (and confidence) ramped up accordingly. My experiences in outdoor recreation (Nordic skiing, alpine skiing, canoeing, mountaineering, etc.) is that if you want to really have fun with a sport, take some lessons. Canoeists will spend two or three hundred dollars on a paddle but balk at spending that on lessons. What convinced me to take a lesson was that swim down a Class 3 rapid but I should have taken lessons long before that.

You used videos of freestyle competition as examples of (very) competent solo paddling and I think that's great as it shows what's possible with lessons and lots of practice. The Jonathon Hammond video is a good example of interpretive freestyle and the maneuvers used. I really like Jonathon's smooth transition from post to axle (around 5 min); that's an impressive heeling skill. And Karen Knight is amazing. But even for most skilled paddlers, these are rather extreme examples of paddling and boat control, not how we typically paddle on a given day. The “FUNctional” freestyle videos are more representative of how we might use these paddling maneuvers.

Still, knowing freestyle basics can enhance most anyone’s canoeing enjoyment and it's videos like the ones you posted that convinced me to start attending freestyle canoeing symposiums back in 2019. Boy was that an eye-opener. I thought I was a pretty good canoeist, having taken whitewater lessons, attended a marathon canoeing workshop and then doing a bunch of paddling in whitewater and cruising canoes, both solo and tandem, doing multi-day solo/tandem trips on both moving and flat water, and racing in a tandem canoe as part of multi-event teams a couple of years. But I quickly realized at the first freestyle symposium, taking the Freestyle Building Blocks series of classes, that there was a lot more to learn. I’ve now attended the forward, cross forward, and reverse quadrant series and plan on taking the cross reverse classes next summer. It’s some of the best money I’ve spent on outdoor recreation and think of the symposiums as summer vacations.

I don’t intend on taking up interpretive freestyle canoeing (at least not in competitions or exhibitions) but it sure is fun to just play around in a responsive sport canoe and my paddling skills have improved enough overall to make canoeing in general more enjoyable, regardless of which canoe I'm paddling. At a minimum, taking the Freestyle Building Blocks classes would enhance the enjoyment of canoeing for many paddlers. It's a good introduction/refresher on how to control a canoe. And at the symposiums there are opportunities to take classes on such things as paddling in wind and waves, heeling and kneeling in a canoe, touring (sit-and-switch) technique, and tandem tune up. You can also take a private two-hour lesson with some of the best instructors in the country. Again, money well spent.

Oh, yeah, I do make use of both sides of my canoes and not just cross maneuvers. Gets the left/right brain hemispheres working and saves wear and tear on the dominant side of my body. I’ll continue to learn and push myself to be a better canoeist, not because I’m a type-A person but because it makes canoeing that much more fun.

 

[Alan Gage]

After discussing it with Glenn I decided to re-post my original reply. I deleted it because it didn't seem relevant to the majority of CanoeTripping.net topics and I didn't want to come across as a FreeStyle fanboy on this site.

I'm glad you reposted that. I thought it was interesting when I read it before deletion.

Personally, and I think this goes for most of us, I just do what makes me happy.

I have my paddling preferences and that's what I lean towards when I'm out paddling. But I do keep an open mind and I find it valuable to know there is more out there than I personally know myself, whether or not I choose to use/practice it.

Up until about 8 years ago there was no place I'd rather be than in a canoe and I spent many hours every week paddling locally. I was trying lots of different boats and paddling styles. I would see people say that the only time they paddled was when they were on canoe trips and I could not understand that, but now I do. Now I struggle to remember what I found so interesting that I would paddle the same stretch of river 40 times per year and enjoy every minute of it.

One thing I notice is that when I paddled all the time, and practiced different paddling techniques, so many things in multiple situations seemed like second nature. I had a better understanding of what was happening and why and I was better able to control the boat the way I wanted it to move. Now that I don't paddle very often those things do not feel like 2nd nature. And I don't feel like spending the time to make them 2nd nature again. I just stick to what I'm comfortable with for the most part.

But I still like seeing what people with other preferences do and how it works/does not work for them and there are still times I'm able to adapt it to my paddling style.

Alan

 

[Rusty Ole' Bucket]

If it stimulates educational interest in just one current or future member or lurker, I will consider it a success . . . even though I may never know about it.

It's a success, I'm going out this weekend and practice some of these.

 

[tketcham]

I just do what makes me happy...
I have my paddling preferences and that's what I lean towards when I'm out paddling.

Up until about 8 years ago there was no place I'd rather be than in a canoe and I spent many hours every week paddling locally. I was trying lots of different boats and paddling styles...
Now I struggle to remember what I found so interesting that I would paddle the same stretch of river 40 times per year and enjoy every minute of it.

I hear ya, sort of. I sold my Advantage solo cruiser because I was getting a bit bored with doing laps around local lakes by myself, plus, the Advantage isn't a great canoe for exploring swamps and narrow streams. I bought a more versatile canoe, a Kestrel, to take it's place and found that canoeing was kind of fun again. I couldn't go as far as easily/quickly but it was a lot more fun exploring along the way. Even then I wasn't getting out as much as I used to.

But now that I have a sport canoe (Northstar Firebird) and some new paddling skills, I've rediscovered how much fun canoeing can be. A simple paddle up a nearby creek can become a challenging obstacle course around blow-downs and rocks and such. Not as challenging as white water attainments but fun nonetheless. A meander along a pond shoreline can become a series of linked maneuvers that probably has other boaters wondering what the !#%@ is he doing? It just mixes things up to keep it interesting, helps maintain my canoeing muscle memory, and makes the rest of my canoe outings still seem fresh. I'm happy just to be out paddling a canoe.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Now that I have a sport canoe

I can't keep up with everyone's canoes. Do you consider your Kestrel the sport canoe, Tom, or is it some other canoe?

A meander along a pond shoreline can become a series of linked maneuvers.

Yeah, I love to do drawing and prying sideslips as I paddle under tree branches close to shore. Playing in rapids you can dominate or play-maneuvering in flatwater makes a daily paddle a lot more fun than just endlessly kerchunking, kerchunking, kerchunking . . . aloooooong. I'm not sure you can attain that level of playfulness fun with unrockered lake canoes paddling only hit & switch. But I stand ready to be corrected by devotees of those canoes and that style of paddling.

Poling would probably add versatility, challenge and fun to day "paddles."

 

[yknpdlr]

A meander along a pond shoreline can become a series of linked maneuvers

"A meander is the pleasantest distance between two points"
-origiinal quote attributed to Paul Jamieson and favored often spoken by my friend "just john" Baumann, both wilderness canoe guides and mentors in the Adirondacks

 

[tketcham]

Do you consider your Kestrel the sport canoe, Tom, or is it some other canoe?

Our Hemlock Kestrel was originally supposed to serve as both a tripping and "sport" canoe but it's not as maneuverable as we'd hoped and freestyle lessons were a bit difficult to practice well so I bought a Northstar Firebird, which is a very nimble sport canoe. A lot of fun on flat or moving water and I've even taken it tripping. There are people that use the Kestrel for freestyle and they do pretty well but it's not what I consider to be a sport canoe.

I have to admit that I do miss my Advantage. There's something about flying along, mile after mile, that has it's own kind of Zen flow to it. The Kestrel, using a Zav bent shaft paddle, can go right along but it's not quite the same. Another cruising canoe may be in my future.

yknpdler: I'll have to remember Mr. Jamieson's quote, it's a good one.

 

[ppine]

How many hours in your life have you spent with a paddle in your hand?
1,000? 10,000? 25,000?
I love the story of Verlen Kruger and his son in law when they paddled across Canada in a 20 foot cedar canoe of their own construction. They were doing 40 miles a day, 60 miles a day and even 100 miles in a long day with favorable current behind them.

They stopped over in Flin Flan, Manitoba for the big canoe race. They had been paddling every day for weeks on end and were plenty confident. They got smoked by the local Seventh Nation competitors that grew up with a paddle in their hands.

 

[tketcham]

They got smoked by the local Seventh Nation competitors that grew up with a paddle in their hands.

A fast canoe and light weight paddle let me feel like I've been paddling a lifetime, but I know who the "true" canoeists are. Thing is, being the fastest shouldn't necessarily imply being the best. Canoeing is so much more than a competitive event.

 

[yknpdlr]

During the Yukon River races, in a voyageur canoe paddling at an average "flat water speed" of 6-7mph, added to an average 6+mph current pushing us along, I have averaged or on some days or even exceeded 160 miles/day, completing 1000 miles in just six days. Five Yukon races plus a local training goal of at least 500 miles prior to each, plus at least 40 90-mile Adirondack race or training trips, plus 30 years of Adirondack teaching canoeing to BSA guides in training all converts to a lot of hours (more than 2500) with paddle in hand.

 

[memaquay]

Just a little history from a former Manitoban.

The Flin Flon Trout Festival was actually one of the major canoe races in Canada at the time. There was a circuit, and many professional canoe racers rotated through them all summer long. Beardmore, a small town 80 K from me also staged one of these races while the circuit lasted.

Vern competed in the 1967 Flin Flon race, and also the 1971 race, Interestingly enough, there was a whole host of first tier professional canoe racers from Flin Flon, mostly all white guys. In 1967, Canada held the Centennial Voyageur Canoe Pageant, a race across Canada in Voyageur canoes, with most provinces participating. The Manitoba team was made up mostly of Flin Flon paddlers, mostly white guys. Don Starkell, of Paddle to the Amazon fame, was also a member of that team. They won the race. These were the same folks Verlin was competing against in 1971. So he didn't lose to some randoms, but actually to professional canoe racers.

 

[Gamma1214]

...professional canoe racers

I've always heard "do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life" but, at least to me, getting paid to paddle (and, presumably win occasionally) that would take most of the fun right out of it.

I can certainly see where learning & practicing strokes would be beneficial (and it's really pretty cool to see what someone with more time & interest can do with a boat) but, at the end of the day, I push water in the opposite direction that I would like the boat to move.

I suppose that I could research in detail the physics of it all but I have neither the time nor the interest and I'm (thankfully) still strong enough that I don't need maximum efficiency to keep me from tiring (subject to change, I'm afraid).

I guess it's like the strippers that I build: They're not professional grade but they're as good as I care to make them and they serve their purpose well enough.

That's not to say that I won't attempt a "Dufleck" (or however that's spelled) next time I'm out or even "invent" such a move myself by pushing water away from my hull but, at the end of the day, I'm just happy if canoe, gear and me all wind up at the same campsite.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Coordinated, balletic paddling with two or more canoes, especially when synchronized to music, represents a high achievement in flatwater canoe control.

This video also suggests that the future of "freestyle canoeing" may be in Europe. The crowds seem bigger and the participants seem younger than in America, where the KayakSUPervirus is successfullly killing off canoes.

If you want to know what kind of canoes those are, you can see all the details in the following thread:

Building plywood frame birchbark-like canoes

Hans-Georg Wagner, a sculpturer and wood designer in eastern Germany (Cottbus), has been building beautiful plywood frame canoes since 1994 and paddles since 2004. First, is an overview video of the maiden voyage of a completed canoe, which Hans-Georg paddles with a combination of "Canadian...

www.canoetripping.net

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Nothing improves whitewater boat control more effectively than participating in slalom gate racing or practice. Many a self-satisfied whitewater boater snaps into needs-improvement reality when she submits to the discipline of demonically placed slalom gates.

Here's a paddler-eye-level view of a good run on a fairly easy class 2 slalom course. You must go downstream through the green gates and, pivoting, go upstream through the red gates. You lose points (seconds off your time) if you touch a gate pole and a lot more points if you miss a gate completely.

Paddlers who become competent in class 3 slalom courses can dissect, resect and vivisect class 4 river rapids with relaxed sphincters.

 

[dutchlennart]

Wierdly there is still a reverse gaten in the course as well. These are out of the icf rules in the nineties. Paddling that course Without bags is making it a bit more daring.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Paddling that course Without bags is making it a bit more daring.

Bags add undesirable swing weight in the ends of a canoe. Racers prefer to paddle the lightest boats possible.

Also, a dumped canoe won't go far on a short slalom race course with lots of rescue boaters around. Flatwater freestyle paddlers usually paddle with no PFDs during exhibitions for the same reasons.