By Jandy Hanna
Pulling up to the YMCA camp an hour early, I managed to catch Bruce, one of the instructors, putting out the signs for the symposium. I offered to help with the signs (though I didn’t really know where I was going or where to put them-it had been 2 years since I was last here), but he sent me along and I stumbled into another instructor, Tim, along the way. He led me to the lodge, where I staked my claim to a bunk nook. Instructors were milling about and gathering for lunch. I’d had too much caffeine on the morning drive, so it was hard to sit still, but easy to start slipping into the laid-back atmosphere of a paddling symposium. Luckily, the YMCA Camp has lots of trails, so I could wander until other attendees started to
show up and register.
Mid-afternoon, we gathered by the lake for a forward stroke and fundamentals class. There were about 20 students and plenty of instructors. We had a group of people from all over the country and world! The weather was unseasonably warm for October in New Jersey, in the low 80’s, with a mild breeze. It was a far cry from my first symposium two years prior, where it drizzled most of the weekend, I got in very late on Friday, and wasn’t really sure what Freestyle canoeing was all about. I hopped in the boat and off we went. I practiced my best forward stroke in this new boat, worked on finding the boat center, and the sweet spots for maneuvers. The entire time, my blood pressure dropped with each in-water recovery and each post-placement riding of momentum.
Not sure what these terms mean? I didn’t either until I tried a FUNctional freestyle canoe symposium (Pine Barrens 2019). I love canoeing, but I haven’t had instruction since I was a kid, and certainly not freestyle technique. To be honest, these techniques would have been lost
on my younger self. The concept that you can effect substantial change in position of the boat with what I call “stationary” strokes, fiddling with little details of paddle angle to determine how long you can sustain momentum, and seeking
efficiency over power. Also, my younger self wouldn’t have appreciated the dual challenge of these mental exercises with the physical aspect of paddling. Now, however, each time I get in the boat, it is like a “mobile meditation,” where I am focusing on one small motion at a time, and practicing patience as I ride a stroke to the conclusion. Not to be cliché, but it’s built character at a point in my life (middle age) where I thought I was pretty set in my ways.
Pine Barrens 2019 was just challenging for me. I hadn’t been paddling regularly, I had never had freestyle instruction, and I knew I would miss the first session (I scheduled a make-up in advance to stay on track). But it was challenging in a, “Where has
this been all my life?” kind of way. It was functional and enjoyable. I got a reprieve from the rocky, mountain streams and rivers of West Virginia, and I could actually paddle up-river in the Pine Barrens. I had wanted to return in 2020, but, well, we don’t talk about that period in anybody’s life.
2021 was the moment I had FUN while practicing the functional techniques. The Pine Barrens are an interesting area. Acidic, sandy, wetlands, streams and creeks, and largely undisturbed (Figure 1). I was chomping at the bit to be in an area without many rocks or fast-moving rivers. But this year, I also discovered (as most New Jersians already know) that the Pine Barrens has a unique cryptid zoology in the form of the Jersey Devil. This year’s t-shirt for the October symposium was an apt Halloween orange, adorned by the Jersey Devil in her(?) own canoe.
Once I learned about the Jersey Devil, I felt like I was being watched for much of the weekend
(Figure 2). Also, maybe this only occurs in October, but if you hike around the trails of the YMCA camp during the breaks between instruction and meals, you may get sucked into a Stephen King-like vortex and end up on the wrong side of the lake, with no obvious mechanism to get back (even if you turn around) (Figure 3). Not only that, on our river trip on Sunday, which is the culmination of
three sessions of experiential instruction and a rather entertaining lecture Friday
evening (Figure 4), our group was shown a secret spring (Figure 5). The secret spring (no, the location will not be revealed unless you join us for the next Pine Barrens workshop and we go on that same river) was flush with carnivorous plants (Figure 6). Not quite on the Little Shop of Horrors Audrey II level, but
impressive to see in the wild, nonetheless. I learned great tips for freestyle canoeing, got awesome feedback on my developing technique, and got an amazing paddle in a unique ecology. But, I think what I enjoyed most about Pine Barrens 2021 was the enjoyment of each moment with like-
minded students and instructors. Though we are all there to learn technique, once we are released, we are able to paddle to our own cadence, without judgment.
