The Panic Subsides

[RPATCH]

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.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Very nice review and essay, Robert. It summarizes how boat control instruction can not only enhance one's paddling skills, but also increase one's mental confidence and motion pleasure.

 

[Steve in Idaho]

..... I am stuck here in canoe Outland. With all the people moving to Idaho, you would think at least one functional freestyle instructor would be among them. But apparently, no.....

 

[tketcham]

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).

Well said, Robert. Functional Freestyle (sport canoeing) offers a fun way to challenge ourselves while canoeing. And even without paddling through obstacle courses on the rivers of the Pine Barrens, learning Freestyle maneuvers is a great way to elevate our enjoyment of canoeing, on any type of water. And I think the love of sport canoeing goes beyond the Mississippi River; Bend, Oregon is a hot spot for Freestyle/Sport enthusiasts. Hopefully, word gets around about how much fun it can be and sport[y] canoes start showing up coast to coast.

Added: I realize that New Jersey isn't necessarily the center of the canoe universe, but it's close.

 

[Neophyte]

Thank you for sharing. I wasn’t able to make it this year, hopefully I can make next year work.

I admit to some trepidation about attending. I’m relatively new to paddling with a single blade and was worried about how the whole thing would go. The experiences you’ve shared here have alleviated that somewhat. And I would certainly benefit from the instruction.

 

[kahel]

I also believe that once you’ve learned and internalized that supposedly silly splashing around on the lake - known as “freestyle” - it’s all the more enjoyable to navigate such a small stream elegantly, smoothly, and with ease.



Of course, you can do it with strength and determination - but it’s not as beautiful or as elegant.

 

[Robin]

If you love canoes and canoe culture and all things paddling, this is the center of the canoe universe

Opps, there we go again.
Freestyle canoeing is great for a small group of people in the canoe world, but to label it the “center of the canoe universe” seems a bit over the top.
It’s nice to see people use these paddle strokes in real life situations, a big improvement from farm ponds, costumes and music imo, and I agree that a new canoe paddler could learn a lot from the instruction that comes from these gatherings but you guys need to be careful when it comes to labeling how important you are in the big picture.

 

[chrisrezac]

I just heard an expression yesterday. Don't yuck somebody's yum if there's some way you can avoid it. I read "If you love canoes and canoe culture and all things paddling, this is the center of the canoe universe" and thought wow, how wonderful for him and that community. It makes me want to be a part of it. I might suggest that greater care isn't warranted. That level of expressive liberty made me feel delighted as I was reading it. I enjoyed the pictures too. I haven't participated in freestyle, but I've witnessed someone practicing, and I was so charmed by it I found myself asking questions and fumbling around trying some things for myself. I agree with Robin that the paddlesports world is too small to clique up into subgroups in exclusion of one another. So I do understand that concern. I hope that if I take the time to dip my way a bit into freestyle and decide an occasional dip is all I desire, that I would still be welcomed among freestylers in my canoe. I guess my take was that RPatch's write-up felt quite welcoming. I imagine there's some history of which I'm not aware. I know I don't always succeed, but if someone's feeling at the center of the canoe universe, I hope my contribution to their experience can be no less than a pleasant droplet of dew or a little ray of sunshine. I'm hoping to plan a short vacation around some of these canoeing events. I've little doubt that some valuable skills can be learned for any style of paddling - let's say racing, whitewater, even k@y#k**g. Never mind. Forget I typed those last couple of words.

 

[tketcham]

Opps, there we go again.
Freestyle canoeing is great for a small group of people in the canoe world, but to label it the “center of the canoe universe” seems a bit over the top.

I'm not sure I know where the center of the canoe universe is either, but you gotta love the enthusiasm that sport canoeing generates.

 

[wjmc]

Modern physics has given us the concept of the "multiverse" - the notion that our universe may be only one of a myriad of universes, each subject to different physical laws.

Perhaps we could extend this notion to canoeing, and each of us could have our own canoe universe and the freedom to define its center as we will, without judging those who live in a different one, or imposing a "ranking system" for universes.

My universe has very little focus on canoe specifications or counting paddle blades. It's about the wild and empty spaces that canoes can take you to that are largely inaccessible by other means. With no intention to offend, its centre is not in Jersey: it's somewhere in the Canadian Shield, close to treeline, with probably an esker nearby, and a muskox.

At the risk of thread drift, I will also admit that in 63 years of canoeing, I have never done a training paddle.

I hope everyone enjoys their own space.

wjmc

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

There may be a few misperceptions I'd like to comment on.

It’s nice to see people use these paddle strokes in real life situations, a big improvement from farm ponds, costumes and music imo

Everyone I've ever met in connection with flatwater freestyle paddling, both the instructors and students, paddle all the time in real life situations. They are lake trippers, river canoeists, whitewater canoeists, and even some marathon racers. The OP, Robert Patch, is an experienced wilderness tripper who has paddled all over North America, from the Everglades to the Yukon. All these paddlers from various experiences—including no experience at all—attend freestyle workshops to learn and practice techniques that will help them become more highly skilled and confident paddlers in all sorts of real life canoeing situations. Plus, the workshops are social, friendly and downright fun.

There have been no interpretive freestyle competitions with music and costumes since 2014. It's just that a lot of videos from before that time persist on YouTube and very few functional freestyle videos, like @themadindian's in another recent thread, have been made.

the paddlesports world is too small to clique up into subgroups in exclusion of one another.

Canoeing does have niches, which is why this site has different forums devoted to many of those niches. And some paddlers do tend to gravitate more to some niches than others, such as portage-tripping, whitewater or racing. Personally, I have found the greatest joy in becoming competent in many of the niches over my long paddling life.

However, no serious canoeist that I'm personally aware of, and most certainly no one I've ever met in connection with freestyle canoeing, has ever advocated some niche to "the exclusion" of another. No one is in a freestyle niche or "clique" because he or she attends a 2½ day freestyle workshop once or twice a year. If anything, the instructors and attendees at a freestyle workshop encourage each other to employ and enjoy the curricular paddling techniques in their everyday paddling . . . whatever that is.

None of the techniques taught are new or special or niche-specific. They simply are the proven historical canoe control techniques, which groups of paddlers (called sport canoeing or freestyle) organized and systematized into a well-thought-out teaching curriculum composed of several building blocks, from novice to advanced.

 

[gumpus]

I feel like many paddlers try to help the "freestyle community" and comments are typically taken as criticism and opportunities are lost. I fully agree that freestyle clinics can be a fine and fun way to enhance skills. But I also agree that the freestyle community needs to be more thoughtful in communication. Many if not most of the people I paddle with get ANGRY if I even use the word freestyle. I think it may be due to perceived arrogance. I've participated in about half a dozen clinics and in my experience they are one of the very few places that this solo paddler may run into arrogant paddlers and I have nearly zero tolerance for any kind of BS when paddling and when it comes from teachers I'm done.

My take:

- don't oversell or overpromise

- explain how freestyle fits in with broader canoe skills and either tell folks where to get the skills or modify your curriculum to include teaching people how to paddle across a lake or down a river without hitting anything

- be much more thoughtful in communication. I don't mean to jump on rpatch's nice thread but I find the center of universe comment off-putting too although not nearly as much as the recent canoes are better than kayaks article

- although teachers may be scarce, be careful because not everyone with freestyle skills should teach

- seek feedback