A First-Timer’s Recollections
Charles Burchill, Canadian Style Canoeing Instructor-Trainer
I wanted to write a little bit about my trip to Wisconsin this spring.
Much of the time I have spent developing skills was using a larger tandem canoe – there are some subtle differences. Several years ago I bought a Colden WildFire; it has now been on many adventures and learning paths.
My path towards learning about FreeStyle Canoeing has been a haphazard one. Much of my FS learning over the last 15-20 years has been from a series of in-person workshops and clinics, watching videos, reading – and a huge amount of experimentation on my own. I wanted to get some more structured training, and I thought that attending one of the FS symposia in the US, one that included building-block/fundamentals courses over several days, would be the ticket to helping me fill in any gaps, discover and correct ‘bad’ habits, meet trainers/instructor-trainers, and simply share ideas with fellow paddlers. Though a long drive from my home in Winnipeg, the Wisconsin Canoe Symposium seemed to fit the bill.
I had agreed to conduct a ‘Canadian Style’ workshop on the first morning of the Symposium, and had four people attend that clinic. This was an eclectic introduction to my interpretation of this style of paddling (larger canoe, continuous heel, still body, no (limited) cross strokes, using a skinny paddle). It turns out that I could have run Canadian Style clinics most of the weekend as this form of paddling was of interest to quite a number of people. I introduced a number of folks to the ‘Welsh Plank’ – no this is not some form of pirate board to walk, but a modified kneeling thwart that is particularly useful for this style of paddling. I expect I made a number of converts.
The primarily reason for me attending the Symposium was for my own learning. I had signed up for FreeStyle Building Blocks. The course consisted of nine hours of instruction, spread over three days, that started with the basic skills needed and finished on the last day with an introduction to the onside forward maneuvers people commonly associate with FS (Axel, Christie, Wedge, and Post).
Because of our class size (7 students), on each day there were two FS instructors running the course. This provided for a variety of instruction techniques, new ideas and approaches, and an overall great learning experience. Having two different people and a small class size allowed for personalized training/feedback. The instructors were very skilled FS paddlers who provided the material in bite sized, manageable pieces. They had infinite patience for explaining and demonstrating skills. At points when someone was having particular difficulties, one of the instructors would provide focused support while the other instructor carried on with the lesson. There is always a danger with multiple instructors to have overlap and repetition, or inadvertently skip things, but our six instructors had a good handle on the course progression, what needed to be covered, and what really should be repeated.
On the Saturday afternoon I took the so-called Creekin’ FreeStyle class. Marc Ornstein, Bruce Kemp, and Anita LoVan took 7 of us students on a section of the nearby Mecan River. Dan Cooke came along too, to help keep all of us in line and add his own additional words of wisdom and experience when needed. The Mecan is a swift flowing and narrow little river, perhaps 20 feet wide with some occasional narrower and wider spots. It meanders through alder wetlands with many ferns, sedges, grasses, and other wetland species – occasional Peach Leaf Willows, and stately oaks (further from the bank). The field biologist in me wanted to spend many more hours exploring, but that would have made us late for supper. This river provided an excellent opportunity to work on the functional side of FreeStyle.
Saturday evening the wind calmed down and it stopped raining long enough for us to be treated to a spectacular presentation of paddling skills in the Interpretive FreeSyle exhibition. The routines were exacting, full of emotion, and fun. Getting to watch these routines in person and having a chance to talk to the paddlers allowed me to get a better understanding of the specific moves and what was required.
I had the opportunity to get to know a number of people that I had wanted to meet for a number of years. Meeting other skilled instructors and getting some private instruction (I don’t think they realized the wealth of knowledge they provided) was a thrill – I learned a considerable amount to add to my toolbox of knowledge and skills. This included an early morning session of 150 (possibly more) McKenzie [cross] reversals on each paddling side – I wanted to lock-in the muscle memory and automatic responses. I can only assume that the audience I had thought I was a trifle insane – across the bay, doing two or three reversals with every pass, for almost 1.5 hours.
The weekend was filled with meeting new people, getting to know people in person that I now think of as old friends, and learning many new skills. I filled a number gaps in my knowledge, learned about new instruction techniques, and shared some of my own teaching ideas.
Overall the trip was well worth the drive and I would repeat the experience in a flash.
Thanks to Paul, Tracy, and Cathy for putting on a delightful event.
Charles.
The happy crew…