Sport or Lifestyle?

[Mihun09]

Canoe tripping. Is it a sport, lifestyle or non-definable considering how different it is for all people who participate?

Most plastic kayak pursuants do so as a form of exercise that gets them out of doors, it is easier to paddle a kayak than canoe and less bulky. Those who paddle those craft will likely never go tripping and I know of several who think what we do to be on the extreme end of paddle sports. They really don't consider packing a hundred pounds of gear over 5km's of portages to be a vacation, where as I can think of nothing better to do with my off time.

Thoughts?

 

[Canotrouge]

I will go paddling ww for fun, race marathon for sport, and do a bunch of trips for life.... All together, they make a life style that me and my family enjoy!! We call that active life style. we don't do anything competitive( anymore), but we do things every day. Walk, hike, paddle, run, camp, fish, hunt, cut fire wood, climb trees, bouldering, bike... And some time a combination of a few of them in the same day, or on the same trip.

But Paddling is defiantly a life style for us, we do at least 50 days of paddling a year(from mid may to early october) I fix canoes, build paddles, teach courses, fill up the freezer using my canoe...

It is a good life!!
Cheers

 

[Guest]

Canoe tripping. Is it a sport, lifestyle or non-definable considering how different it is for all people who participate?

Not a sport, I thought sports were supposed to involve balls. Although I guess running serious whitewaterwith a tripping load would count.

I see it more as a facet of “lifestyle”, with a wide range of style fashion, From UL pond hopping portage trippers to kitchen-sink glampers. Including anyone who is travelling across water under human power, from folks rolling the dice on an inaugural overnight trip in an overloaded rec kayak to the expedition soloist putting experience into play in increasingly remote locales.

Even backwards facing rowers or even ama infected paddlers are included.

We are all on our own evolving trip, each in our own ways.

 

[Philtrum]

Canoe tripping. Is it a sport, lifestyle or non-definable considering how different it is for all people who participate?

Yes.

 

[yellowcanoe]

For me this year it will be a sport. I hope to spend two hours a day paddling developing strength I have lost. This is done at home on the lake in front of my house. Hopefully I will develop enough strength to be able to resume tripping later in the summer and my paddling. Lifestyle. Nothing I would like better than to be back in a tent 70 days a year

I'll be starting with Freestyle which develops leg strength as well as core strength and balance
Hopefully my neuropathy will leave

 

[Guest]

Well,
I have canoes and paddles in my living room,ADK maps and guides by my chair,hang out with canoers, think of canoe tripping nearly every day,more than half my pictures are of canoe trips, and I use a voyager paddle as a snowshoe staff-I guess maybe lifestyle?
Turtle

 

[sweeper]

Sport= competition. The only competition in tripping is with the bugs. Definitely a lifestyle.

 

[Canotrouge]

Well,
I have canoes and paddles in my living room,ADK maps and guides by my chair,hang out with canoers, think of canoe tripping nearly every day,more than half my pictures are of canoe trips, and I use a voyager paddle as a snowshoe staff-I guess maybe lifestyle?
Turtle

Way to go Turtle, that is addiction!! I don't have a canoe in my living room, at least not all the time
But I have a rack on the wall in the living room with about 10 paddles hanging from it.

Cheers

 

[Philtrum]

For me this year it will be a sport. I hope to spend two hours a day paddling developing strength I have lost. This is done at home on the lake in front of my house. Hopefully I will develop enough strength to be able to resume tripping later in the summer and my paddling. Lifestyle. Nothing I would like better than to be back in a tent 70 days a year

I'll be starting with Freestyle which develops leg strength as well as core strength and balance
Hopefully my neuropathy will leave

Kim, if you there's a yoga studio nearby - or if you can practice on your own at home - I'd suggest doing that. It promotes both strength and flexibility, and you go at your own pace. Let me know if you want any resources.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

When I was actively paddling class 3/4 whitewater about 30 weekends a year 20 to 35 years ago, I considered that mainly a sport.

Day paddling on flatwater or smoothwater rivers, which is what I mainly do now, I'd call sort of a part-time outdoor exercise lifestyle.

Taking multi-day trips in a canoe down long rivers or portaging through chains of lakes is not something you can do except for a few places in the US. It's something that requires major driving to and from, so it's become less and less frequent for me, maybe once a year now, which puts it in the category of an occasional hobby.

All things considered, I'd say my life has not been that of a wilderness tripper, but that of an avid paddler in various hulls on various waters. I've always liked to go around the river bend and into the woods, the swamp or the vly -- but I've never needed to go too far in to get the physical and psychological pleasures that attract me. I love the physical act of single blade paddling and all the tricky technical things that can go along with it.

 

[balto charlie]

I consider outdoor recreation a lifestyle for me. Since I engage in so many different forms of recreation I am a 'jack of all trades and a master of none'. I have bikes all over the house, skis in various corners, maps here, there, everywhere and a garage that many feel looks like an REI attic sale.

 

[Guest]

for me,Whitewater is a carnival ride. Exciting and all consuming. I could go by the Swedish bikini team and never see them. Not my big.
Turtle

 

[riverstrider]

I'm not sure I can define my experiences as either a sport or a lifestyle. Maybe an infection? Or an affliction? I'd be more inclined to consider it an infection since I was never interested in canoeing and kayaking until I was exposed to it and consequently infected. I believe I have been responsible for infecting others around me as well. The symptoms are clear. And in this opinion, I am sure my wife would agree with me, which is saying something.

-rs

 

[ppine]

It goes beyond a lifestyle for me, it is a mental health plan. I have to go.

 

[cflcanoe]

I really have to agree with ppine. A while back some one else said "sometimes you just got to get out there." Did I quote you correctly Yellow canoe? To those of use who think like this it is a life style. Maybe even deeper. Cement ain't the natural habitat of our sub species I would have to say.

 

[Guest]

When at the dentist or having a painful medical procedure, I think of quiet water solo paddling.
Turtle

 

[Odyssey]

A very good question Mihun. I've had to really think about this. I guess tripping is neither sport nor lifestyle to me. I no longer have the competitive drive for sports of any kind, although I did once upon a time. My interest in winning waned over the years, to the point now, where I have no burning desire to win at any given competition, real or imagined. As for lifestyle? Well, I'm not fortunate enough to be able to make canoe tripping a part of my life on a regular enough basis. But I'm not even sure if I would if I could. I can't even call it recreation, although that comes close I suppose. You see, it's not the only thing I love and have an interest in. As much as I love tripping, I don't feel more any more love for it than some other things in my life I love. They all do share some things in common though, and that's the undefinable other you mention. These loves may have some adventure, travel, self reliance, freedom from commitments and schedules, history, culture, but mostly personal joie de vivre that sets me free. Whether I'm canoe tripping, weekend cycling, holiday travelling near or far, or just sitting in my back yard roasting peppers and sipping wine, it's always all about that "comprehensive joy of life, an exultation of spirit." That best defines canoe tripping for me. It's not a job, hobby, sport, lifestyle, experiment, macho demonstration, badge of honour, trophy vacation...but a simple act of joyful exploration of life.

 

[Hanz]

It's more of an escape for me...

 

[Philtrum]

Odyssey hit the nail on its proverbial head.

A few other thoughts, while I'm here ....

The first few days of a canoe-camping trip are fun, new and exciting, so for that time I'd call tripping a sport. My solo trips are retreats, and they usually have a specific theme. So this first phase of a trip is for getting down into whatever issue I've brought along.

On about the 4th day I get cranky. This segment from one of my Boundary Waters trip reports describes the Day Four phenomenon (which can happen on Day One or Day Ten or any time in between):

"A veteran of many Boundary Waters and Quetico trips, Tom [my partner on this trip] mentions a common experience among trippers that could be called the four-day syndrome. It seems that for many people it takes 4 or 5 days to shake off the the civilized world and fully gain access to the natural world. Not only does it take time for our bodies to get accustomed to the rigors of paddling and portaging and sleeping on the ground, but it takes time for our brains to stop churning through the mental baggage packed along - that unfinished project at work, the fact that the house needs new shingles, the kids' ball games or swim meets, and worries about having forgotten something important. In addition, for many of us an extra measure of tension is also packed along, a byproduct of packing for the trip and the rush to get to the landing. It takes time to shed this mental baggage and begin to live in the moment. For those who experience this, the mental and physical transformation process seems to take 4-5 days to run its course. It's not uncommon for the fourth day to be a low point, a funk that may be marked by tiredness, lethargy, irritability, homesickness, and/or depression. Once it's over the simplicity of wilderness living feels normal and the trip becomes a joyful (or at least accepted) process. Portages, rain, soot and silence are taken in stride, and even one's partner's idiosyncracies can seem like just so many chipmunks scolding from the trees. I've been through this process a number of times - in fact, every time I've been out for more than three days, and not just in the BWCA."

When I finally get past Day Four the trip shifts from adventure to a new lifestyle. At that point - whose transition usually happens during the night - I settle more deeply into a quiet mind and a calm presence. Of course, it doesn't stay that way all the time, but it's a decidedly more relaxed state of being.

So for me, tripping is both sport and a way of living that takes a few weeks to "recover" from when I get back home.

 

[Alan Gage]

I think I'll have to tick the "other" box as well and go with hobby. It's a hobby that fits into my broader lifestyle. I have many outdoor activities that I enjoy but canoeing is at the top. That and simply walking and looking.

While I enjoy tripping it's not something I feel especially drawn to. I don't think I've taken a real trip in the last two years but I'm planning to change that this year. More than anything I just like being out in the canoe. From ice-out to ice-up I'm usually on the water 2-3 days/week. Some weeks less, some weeks more. Some trips will last all day, others an hour. There's nothing around here that resembles wilderness but it is a little off the beaten path and it's rare that I'll see more than a handful of paddlers on my normal river route over the course of the entire season. That's enough to keep me happy. Just me and my dog paddling upstream and then back down. Sometimes pushing the speed and watching the clock, other times lazily floating for miles and barely wetting the paddle or playing around working on boat control and new strokes. It's my happy place.

Now that write all that and think about it perhaps canoeing is more than a hobby. I hope so.

Alan