EVENTS  IN 2019

A  LOOK  AHEAD

FreeStyle Canoeing is the art and science of precision paddling. It is a body of technique that emphasizes the use of body, boat, and blade to maximize effectiveness, efficiency, and grace. FreeStyle focuses on developing an intuitive partnership between canoe and paddler, using paddle placement, blade angle, weight shifts, and a repertoire of specific strokes. Combining these elements helps paddlers to harness and direct the boat’s own momentum to complement and assist their own power.

For many years the FreeStyle (FS) Canoeing community has conducted a series of Symposia to teach these skills. There are several of these each year, conducted in various locations over the course of the paddling season. As closely related events, they naturally have a number of elements in common with each other, particularly in the area of instruction. The Core curriculum classes – lessons in the “quadrants,” as they are known – are offered at all Symposia, but each Symposium will also offer a wide and varying assortment of Special Topics, focusing in most cases on a particular aspect of FreeStyle paddling (for a full listing of FS classes, and to get an idea of just what it is that is taught at our Symposia, go to freestylecanoeing.com and click on “Class Descriptions” on the homepage). Those similarities notwithstanding, each event does seem to have a certain character that sets it just a bit apart from the others.

Here in the early spring, let’s take a walk forward through 2019 and pay a short visit to each of the upcoming FreeStyle events in turn…

 

Western  Pennsylvania  Solo  Canoe  Rendezvous

May 31 – June 2

The FS season will start with an event that is actually not a FreeStyle event per se, but one which is certainly related – a “cousin” to the Symposia, you might say. This is the Western Pennsylvania Solo Canoe Rendezvous, which will be at Cooper’s Lake Campground in Portersville/Slippery Rock PA on Friday May 31 thru Sunday June 2. As the name implies, this event focuses on solo canoes in particular, but tandems are certainly welcome too, and are always a part of the mix. The Rendezvous features a number of the very best contemporary canoe manufacturers who’ve brought demo boats for folks to test paddle to their heart’s content.

While not a dedicated FreeStyle instructional event, the Rendezvous has from its start had a very strong FS flavor and presence. There are always a number of FS instructors on hand to offer some informal classes in basic FS techniques, and there is usually an exhibition performance of Interpretive FreeStyle. The Rendezvous is an excellent early-season opportunity for those new to FS to get a taste of what it’s all about, tune up your skills, and learn something new.

 

Wisconsin  Canoe  Symposium

 June 14 – 16

The first of 2019’s “traditional” Symposia is the Wisconsin Canoe Symposium, which will be conducted at Pine Lake Camp in Westfield WI, June  14 – 16. While days are spent in class on Pine Lake, one evening is usually reserved for a particularly lively event we call the Giant Schlalom. This is a timed “race” around a small compact buoy course, each contestant paddling the course to frantic musical accompaniment. All purely for the fun and silliness of it, without a trace of seriousness anywhere to be found in the vicinity. And of course there are loads of fabulous prizes (from the local Dollar General !!) for the lucky winners in several categories. All of this is followed by root beer floats in the Rader Retreat Center.

 

Adirondack Canoe Symposium

July 18 – 21

Traditional Canoeing in Traditional Canoe Country

The Adirondack Canoe Symposium (ACS) takes place at Paul Smiths College in the High Peaks area of New York’s Adirondack mountains – traditional canoe country if ever there was. ACS is FreeStyle’s longest running symposium, having begun in 1991. While the college is located on Upper St. Regis Lake, classes are conducted on the nearby, small and sheltered Church Pond. In 2019, the Annual Assembly of the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association will once again be held at Paul Smiths, at the same time ACS will be there. So besides FreeStyle, there’s the added opportunity to examine some beautifully restored wood/canvas canoes, and revel in the history of canoes and canoeing with some extremely knowledgeable and dedicated folks who are as passionate about canoes as you are.

 

 

Midwest Canoe  Symposium

Sept. 6 – 8

Peninsula OH, adjacent to Cuyahoga National Park, has been the September home to the Midwest Canoe Symposium (MCS) for 20 years now. In addition to FreeStyle classes, MCS offers opportunities for ACA Instructor updates and certifications in a variety of paddling disciplines. MCS also features the annual National Interpretive FreeStyle Competition. Candlelight Paddles (a periodically recurring feature at our symposia) can be special here, as the warm days and cool September nights often generate an evening mist slowly rising over the surface of Lake Litchfield. With some soft paddling music in the background, and the glowing multi-colored buoys, the effect can be quite magical.       

A particular stand-out at MCS is the wonderfully delicious, varied, and plentiful food – much of it home-grown, and all of it home-made – lovingly prepared every year by the gals affectionately known to us all as The Church Ladies.

 

 

 

 

Pine Barrens Functional FreeStyle Canoeing Workshop

(Egad, that’s a mouthful) 

Oct. 18 – 20

While many folks may be familiar with FreeStyle only from its Interpretive side – paddling 3 to 4 minute choreographed routines to musical accompaniment – the FreeStyle techniques are very useful in improving one’s “everyday paddling” on the rivers and creeks back home. The closing FreeStyle event for 2019 will be October’s Pine Barrens Functional FreeStyle Canoeing Workshop at Camp Ockanickon in Medford NJ, in the heart of the South Jersey Pinelands. This event departs somewhat from the instructional format of our “traditional” Symposia in that it emphasizes the practical application of FreeStyle techniques. One day is spent teaching a number of (primarily) forward maneuvers on the camp’s Lake Stockwell, and on Sunday we take it all out to one of the extraordinary, intimate Pine Barrens rivers and put it to real-life use.

                                

Wrapping it up…

The FreeStyle Symposia are more than just being about learning some new paddling techniques and maneuvers. In the evenings, when school’s out, there are some activities that tend to appear from one Symposium to the next. Each Symposium will usually feature an informal Interpretive FreeStyle Exhibition, just for the enjoyment of it…

If the weather allows, and folks are not too tired out, there may be what we call a Candlelight Paddle (mentioned above), after dark of course. Glowing buoys (milk jugs actually, with glo-sticks inside) are scattered about on the water, and with music wafting over the water, folks paddle amongst them, and each other, with the stars overhead. Sounds hokey, I know, but it is deceptively captivating…

Some of our instructors and students play a variety of musical instruments, so there is usually some incarnation of what we call the Floating (because it just pops up here and there) and Amorphous (because it’s make-up tends to vary from event to event and no one’s really sure who’s in it) FreeStyle String Band for some informal evening music-making. Everyone is invited to sit in (bring your instrument – all skill levels welcome, vocalists too…) or just lie back and listen.

Most notably, the Symposia offer the opportunity for a group of both old and new friends to periodically come together to enjoy the company of like-minded paddlers. So pick an event (or two) near you, and come be a part of the FreeStyle community. You will be more than welcome, and you’ll be glad you did…