Some thoughts on the Pine Barrens Functional Freestyle Canoeing Workshop
The familiar deer caught in the headlights feeling as I come up to another obstacle in the river subsides. Even I, as a slow learner with no natural ability, slowly and eventually learn and adopt the techniques and tools to use to move my canoe gracefully through the water.
I'm a canoe tripper. I'm a strong paddler. I didn't know anything about this freestyle derived canoe control a few years ago. I had a strong forward stroke, a J stroke and various intuitively applied draws, sweeps and pries, all applied with splash and gusto. It's what I knew and what I had done for decades. At my first Pine Barrens Functional Freestyle Canoeing Workshop, I resisted and fought changes to my style. The changes were unfamiliar and frustrating. Frankly, I thought they were wrong. I took every opportunity to go back to what was comfortable to me, which is what I had been doing for years. Doing hit and switch across the lake while everybody was working on their fine maneuvers was going back to my comfort zone for a few moments and was a welcome break from the seemingly tedious exercises that felt so foreign.
Slowly over the course of time, and when I was ready to learn, and largely through the patience and forbearance of the wonderful instructors at the Pine Barrens Functional Freestyle Canoeing Workshop, I've started to see not only my paddling, but my mindset begin to change.
And that's only the half of it! If you love canoes and canoe culture and all things paddling, this is the center of the canoe universe. Combined with the other freestyle workshops, The Wisconsin Canoe Symposium (Westfield, WI), The Midwest Canoe Symposium (Peninsula, OH), The Adirondack Free Style Canoe Symposium (Paul Smiths, NY) and the Western Pennsylvania Solo Canoe Rendezvous, which is not a workshop, but a wonderful social event where there happen to be every solo canoe imaginable to try out, this is the heart and soul of canoe paddling. This is it. There's nothing west of Wisconsin in this country. This small group of warm and welcoming individuals carry the torch.
If you're a canoe person, this is what you want to be a part of. There are almost as many women as men. It is not competitive or judgemental. As one woman commented to me, it was life changing. Come and join the fun and keep the heart of canoeing beating (and your own, while you are at it).
Some photos graciously shared by Kayce Carpenter.
The familiar deer caught in the headlights feeling as I come up to another obstacle in the river subsides. Even I, as a slow learner with no natural ability, slowly and eventually learn and adopt the techniques and tools to use to move my canoe gracefully through the water.
I'm a canoe tripper. I'm a strong paddler. I didn't know anything about this freestyle derived canoe control a few years ago. I had a strong forward stroke, a J stroke and various intuitively applied draws, sweeps and pries, all applied with splash and gusto. It's what I knew and what I had done for decades. At my first Pine Barrens Functional Freestyle Canoeing Workshop, I resisted and fought changes to my style. The changes were unfamiliar and frustrating. Frankly, I thought they were wrong. I took every opportunity to go back to what was comfortable to me, which is what I had been doing for years. Doing hit and switch across the lake while everybody was working on their fine maneuvers was going back to my comfort zone for a few moments and was a welcome break from the seemingly tedious exercises that felt so foreign.
Slowly over the course of time, and when I was ready to learn, and largely through the patience and forbearance of the wonderful instructors at the Pine Barrens Functional Freestyle Canoeing Workshop, I've started to see not only my paddling, but my mindset begin to change.
And that's only the half of it! If you love canoes and canoe culture and all things paddling, this is the center of the canoe universe. Combined with the other freestyle workshops, The Wisconsin Canoe Symposium (Westfield, WI), The Midwest Canoe Symposium (Peninsula, OH), The Adirondack Free Style Canoe Symposium (Paul Smiths, NY) and the Western Pennsylvania Solo Canoe Rendezvous, which is not a workshop, but a wonderful social event where there happen to be every solo canoe imaginable to try out, this is the heart and soul of canoe paddling. This is it. There's nothing west of Wisconsin in this country. This small group of warm and welcoming individuals carry the torch.
If you're a canoe person, this is what you want to be a part of. There are almost as many women as men. It is not competitive or judgemental. As one woman commented to me, it was life changing. Come and join the fun and keep the heart of canoeing beating (and your own, while you are at it).
Some photos graciously shared by Kayce Carpenter.
