I think “advanced canoe paddling techniques” should cover it. Or “ beyond the basics”
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Paddler Magazine: Functional vs. Interpretive Freestyle Canoeing
- Thread starter Glenn MacGrady
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I suppose this is an example of "functional freestyle" although there seems to be a bit of the interpretive stuff mixed in.
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To me personally I see freestyle as 2 words. Free and style..
To me the style part are the manouvres.
The free are all the non standart chances that can be done either for more fun or more finesse or because it fits you better.
Some fit doing style on music, some free on music, some sryle in silence, some free in silence.
All 4 can be done with an audiance or alone.
To me the style part are the manouvres.
The free are all the non standart chances that can be done either for more fun or more finesse or because it fits you better.
Some fit doing style on music, some free on music, some sryle in silence, some free in silence.
All 4 can be done with an audiance or alone.
Think Tom MacKenzie popularized “obedience training for your canoe” back in the Adirondack canoe symposium days. It originally started out as Adirondack freestyle symposium. Personally, I have always thought it should be spelled FreeStyle. Style so you look good doing it and Free so you can put your own tweaks on maneuvers and linking them.
This film is making the rounds of small theaters in New England and Alaska now. I saw it last night in Bethel and enjoyed it. Has anyone else here seen it and/or want to offer any comments? The link below has more details.
Benson
Canoe Dig It? | Samuel FD Dunning
www.samuelfddunning.com
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After recently spending several days paddling on small twisty streams around (and sometimes through) numerous obstacles of all sorts, I'm convinced that Freestyle isn't really about advanced paddling techniques. Freestyle is the artistic expression using those techniques. Those same maneuvers can be applied while out paddling for the day, adding a graceful element to an outing, but freestyle isn't a set of distinctive paddling strokes. That is, just because Freestyle demonstrations use strokes that typically aren't used in everyday paddling doesn't make them "freestyle". It's the creativity in linking that wide range of maneuvers that make it Freestyle. In my mind, the idea of functional freestyle is a useful but unfortunate misnomer and is perpetuating a notion that using most (or all) the strokes available for paddling isn't "normal" canoeing.
So what term could be applied to skillfully navigating a canoe with a wide range of maneuvers? Sport canoeing has been used in the past and I think it's time to resurrect that term. I like the term "sport" because, as I posted earlier in this thread, it's quite similar to a sports car navigating a twisty section of road. A sports car is the vehicle of choice in the same way a sport canoe is on a narrow, twisty stream. So does that mean that the maneuvers used in sport canoeing are limited to sport canoes? Not necessarily, you can do a cross post in a big tripper, just as marathon racers use it for buoy turns, but it isn't going to be as efficient and certainly not as elegant as in a sport canoe.
The strokes taught at Freestyle symposiums aren't freestyle moves, they're a comprehensive set of maneuvers skillfully done in a sport canoe. It's up to you if you want to take them to the level of interpretive Freestyle but there's no obligation to do that. And you can bring a big solo tripper to the event but learning some of the moves isn't going to be easy because that canoe isn't as nimble as a sport canoe. If canoe tripping isn't considered to be Freestyle canoeing than neither should sport canoeing; both are simply a means of paddling using the appropriate canoes and strokes to make paddling all the more enjoyable.
I suppose there could be Freestyle Tripping, but I'm not sure how that would be interpreted.
So what term could be applied to skillfully navigating a canoe with a wide range of maneuvers? Sport canoeing has been used in the past and I think it's time to resurrect that term. I like the term "sport" because, as I posted earlier in this thread, it's quite similar to a sports car navigating a twisty section of road. A sports car is the vehicle of choice in the same way a sport canoe is on a narrow, twisty stream. So does that mean that the maneuvers used in sport canoeing are limited to sport canoes? Not necessarily, you can do a cross post in a big tripper, just as marathon racers use it for buoy turns, but it isn't going to be as efficient and certainly not as elegant as in a sport canoe.
The strokes taught at Freestyle symposiums aren't freestyle moves, they're a comprehensive set of maneuvers skillfully done in a sport canoe. It's up to you if you want to take them to the level of interpretive Freestyle but there's no obligation to do that. And you can bring a big solo tripper to the event but learning some of the moves isn't going to be easy because that canoe isn't as nimble as a sport canoe. If canoe tripping isn't considered to be Freestyle canoeing than neither should sport canoeing; both are simply a means of paddling using the appropriate canoes and strokes to make paddling all the more enjoyable.
I suppose there could be Freestyle Tripping, but I'm not sure how that would be interpreted.
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I can see pros and cons to renaming or rebranding FreeStyle canoeing and to the various suggestions that have been bantered about. My personal choice would be Advanced Quietwater Canoeing, although even that is imperfect. Advanced Quietwater Single Blade Canoeing is a bit more precise but seems cumbersome. Of greater concern is that although the name, FreeStyle Canoeing, has the limitations that have been previously expressed, many folks have some concept of it and a major rebranding could create confusion of it's own. Many products/companies have, throughout history, made serious rebranding errors that cost them existing customers without attracting sufficient new ones. Any rebranding needs to be done cautiously, and with sufficient promotion so as to offset the predictable confusion associated with the change.
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