Sport or Lifestyle?

[APPaul]

It goes beyond a lifestyle for me, it is a mental health plan. I have to go.

yup that pretty much sums it up. Something about the sound of forests and lakes seems to reset my scrambled brain. Puts me at ease. It really is the sound over anything else too, and canoeing lets us go to places where there is no white noise of cities and roads for long periods of time with no interruptions. If I paddle the city rivers and canal in Ottawa (where I live) it feels empty because of the city noise.

If someone put an afternoon nap, with no fly, on a warm breezy fresh forest backcountry day in a pill I would be in very big trouble!!!

So for me its a lifestyle I guess.

 

[yellowcanoe]

We moved to a lake year round 15 years ago so we could canoe every day during soft water season.. Ergo we engaged in a lifestyle involving salmon lake trout loons eagles and the McBeavers..who have a Mc Mansion. Its not a big lake(three miles long) but it connects to another so long days we can do an 12 mile round trip via canoe to the library.

When for whatever reason we don't get on the water its a mental health issue.. Things really do look different on the water. Some days we want to see what the eagle nest has . Its about a quarter mile paddle.. Just watch and do a little FreeStyle.. Sport?

Then there is the lure of paddling waters that do not look like my home lake.. With six kids camps on it its hardly crowded. There are cottages but they are in use seven weeks of the year. I have kind of lost the drive to paddle things that look like home. Ergo the south is appealing as is the west as is the prairie boreal. Quetico? Not so much. We will paddle Newfoundland this summer.
Looking out the window it seems impossible that in two months or so there will be some dozen or two loons squabbling on their arrival.

 

[Robin]

I'm not sure what I would label my canoetripping activities, like most here I have other interests, but canoetripping is probably up at the top of the list.

For one, it's pretty much on my mind year round, be it restoring a tripping canoe in the winter, hanging out in my shop by the wood stove while I work on some small piece of gear or at a family/friends function explaining my upcoming plans to a family friend(s) who always ask "got any trips planned"?

I guess closer to a lifestyle than sport for me, maybe a life-supporting-style

 

[memaquay]

Passion, that's the best way for me to describe it. It's a passion, or maybe an obsession. I've had other obsessions. I was totally devoted to bicycle racing and touring at one time. Then cross country skiing. Running. Hunting. Women. Flyfishing. My current passion is canoes, and has been since the early 90's. Somehow it has lasted longer than any of the others, and i don't see it going away soon. I do it as part of my job, I have done it as a contractor for establishing and maintaining canoe routes, and I do it in my spare time. I hope my health holds so I can keep expanding this passion after I retire.

 

[Alan Gage]

Passion, that's the best way for me to describe it. It's a passion, or maybe an obsession. I've had other obsessions. I was totally devoted to bicycle racing and touring at one time. Then cross country skiing. Running. Hunting. Women. Flyfishing. My current passion is canoes, and has been since the early 90's. Somehow it has lasted longer than any of the others, and i don't see it going away soon. I do it as part of my job, I have done it as a contractor for establishing and maintaining canoe routes, and I do it in my spare time. I hope my health holds so I can keep expanding this passion after I retire.

That's a good fit for me too. I've had lots of obsessions over the years and they always fade. I'm always afraid I'll fall out of love with canoeing as well but it hasn't happened yet and I've held onto it longer than most. I guess the good news is that one passion/obsession is always traded for another. While I miss my old passions what I learned from them sticks with me and can usually be incorporated to some extent with my new obsessions.

Alan

 

[bstrege]

Canoeing is a passion/obsession for me. I think about it every day. I think any vacation time I have to take off work is wasted if I don't get to spend it canoeing. My wife and I are trying to get into canoeing as a sport, too, so we train on our local rivers during my lunch breaks (when the rivers aren't frozen, that is).

 

[ppine]

The fastest way to ruin a sport you really like to make a competition out of it.

 

[Alan Gage]

The fastest way to ruin a sport you really like to make a competition out of it.

For some people, yes. For others, no.

Alan

 

[icedragonmx]

I think of my canoeing trips as part of my lifestyle, one of many interests that make it all fun!

 

[Canotrouge]

I guess it is also a passion to us since we do it for work, for pleasure. we do it every time we have a chance, we make it a family thing!!

 

[bstrege]

The fastest way to ruin a sport you really like to make a competition out of it.

My wife is a runner for both pleasure and competition - she still seems to enjoy it. I love training - it is fun to go out on the river for an hour during my lunch break and see how fast we can go. Not a better way to spend an hour during a work day!

 

[Alan Gage]

My wife is a runner for both pleasure and competition - she still seems to enjoy it. I love training - it is fun to go out on the river for an hour during my lunch break and see how fast we can go. Not a better way to spend an hour during a work day!

Where do you live? Have you started doing any canoe racing?

Alan

 

[Guest]

The fastest way to ruin a sport you really like to make a competition out of it.

I have raced a bit. Mostly for fun in peculiar canoes, but even there my competitive edge rears its head. I have some friends who race and it is in their nature of competitive sport to hone the fastest technique, and to seek and eek out the most efficient paddles, gear and boats.

For some people, yes. For others, no.

One of the most accomplished paddlers I know steadfastly refuses to engage in any type of speed challenge. He will race against a changing tide or incoming front, but he knows how deep his own competitive nature lies and refuses to awaken the mano a mano beast within.

I do still satisfy my need for speed on almost every trip. At some point I will set a goal; fast as I can to some distant point ahead, or even just as far and fast and I can go counting off X hundred strokes at near max effort. Be careful with the stroke count you select when setting that goal.

And when I’m done with that exercise, breathing hard and slumped over exhausted, I realize why I relish a slow and steady touring speed at half max.

 

[Iskweo]

No speed involved for me. I take my time and just get where I am going. And if I dont then I get there tomorrow.
But then, I am there to blend into that world, not conquer it.

I guess for me it is a longing, a quest to just be there. It is where I feel most at home. The trouble is that I miss people and there are not many who share my love of the bush. So I make do with my trips and a nice cottagey atmosphere at home.

Sitting under a tarp in the rain with some coffee, a smoke and a pot of KD...you either love it or hate.

Christine

 

[bstrege]

Where do you live? Have you started doing any canoe racing?

Alan

We live in Grand Forks, ND. We haven't done any real races yet. There aren't too many around here - we'll have to travel to get to any.

This year we are planning on doing the Tri-Loppet in Minneapolis. It is a triathlon but with canoeing instead of swimming. My wife likes triathlons except for the swimming part, so this should be a good fit for her. She will probably do fairly well, but I'm mostly doing it for fun - I'm not as good as she is at racing.

I love adventure races (the 6-9 hour ones, not the crazy 24-hour ones) that have a canoeing and orienteering component. I'm trying to do a couple of those this year. I think these appeal to the kid in me - I like looking for the "treasure." I like being able to look for something rather than just try to get to the finish line.

We have talked about doing pure (not triathlon) canoe races, too. Someday I want to do the AuSable, but that is kind of a far-off goal right now. We'll stick with the smaller ones for now.

 

[Alan Gage]

Minnesota has a great group of racers. Nice people and very talented. Very open to helping newcomers. Most of the races will be 6-18 mile affairs. I personally like those better than the long races (50+ miles) that are gaining in popularity. The short races keep everyone bunched together and everyone is at the finish line together at the end. Many times their will be multiple races scheduled over the day or weekend rather. In the long races you can spend hours at a time without seeing another boat and not many people stick around at the finish line when done. At the shorter races their will sometimes be a pot luck afterwards or everyone goes to eat at a local restaurant.

Closest race to you I can think of is the Minnesota State Canoe Championships in Bemidji every fall. Not really a state championship but they call it that just for fun since there is no official state championship. There's also the Snake River race at Mora, MN in the early spring. The Jensen handicap is held just north of Minneapolis every summer and is a real blast. Paddlers are divided into 4 skill levels. "A" paddlers are paired at random with "D" paddlers and "B" paddlers with "C" paddlers and everyone is in nearly identical tandems. It's a short sprint down the Mississippi and then back up stream to the finish. It's about a 50 minute paddle but an all out sprint that leaves you pretty wasted. While it's serious competition no one really takes it that seriously, it's mostly a fun day. There are usually a few people who show up who have never paddled a racing canoe or paddled more than a few strokes. They're welcomed.

There's also the South Dakota Kayak Challenge on Memorial Day weekend. 75 mile paddle down a beautiful stretch of the Missouri River from Yankton, SD to Sioux City, IA. There will be paddlers in serious race boats going hard the whole way and lots of people in 12' kayaks who are just there to have fun and maybe camp overnight on the river before finishing the next day. This one is turning into a pretty big race.

It can be hard to find information on when and where these races are since most are small affairs and not heavily publicized. You can keep an eye on the calendar at MCA (Minnesota Canoe Association) to find most of them. http://www.mncanoe.org/

Good luck with your future racing endeavors should you get into some. It's a fun activity. I haven't done any for a couple years now and miss it.

Alan

 

[Mihun09]

I don't have an answer yet personally, but I live and breath canoes. At work I have photo's of all my projects on the lid of my toolbox, where others have pictures of their spouses and children. On breaks I use the shop floor computers to read CT. Everyone knows me as the canoe girl. I have a flyer posted on the cork board in the lunchroom with the Canadian for sale, plenty of wealthy people work in the office and clients coming through all the time. If I ever stop tripping, which will come at some point, I'll likely just keep building and restoring canoes to fill the gap. We have a map of the area we trip in, (6 foot by 6 foot), that is destined for the living room wall, that will compliment the old Coleman stove collection and snowshoes by the fireplace.

 

[Marten]

When I finally get past Day Four the trip shifts from adventure to a new lifestyle. At that point - whose transition usually happens during the night - I settle more deeply into a quiet mind and a calm presence. Of course, it doesn't stay that way all the time, but it's a decidedly more relaxed state of being.

So for me, tripping is both sport and a way of living that takes a few weeks to "recover" from when I get back home.

I too suffer from the "four day syndrome." After that it is a whole new trip. Canoetripping is just another activity in my lifestyle. I like simple living and it fits right in with time spent at an old MN cabin and a home life in Illinois of biking, x-country skiing, birdwatching and heating with wood.

 

[ppine]

The first big moment for me is to leave home on a trip. The second is the glorious push off from shore at the start. That means that the shuttle is done, and everyone is organized. The third great moment is the first night in camp. The start of the third day Is usually the transition to bush living, the fourth great moment. Every evening after that is a bunch of great moments. After about a week, I get tired, sore from sleeping on the ground, and start looking for a motel. The next great moment is a shower and a restaurant with endless amounts of ice. The last great moment is coming home and kissing my girl. Repeat.