FUNCTIONAL FREESTYLE CANOE CLINIC

Carolina Canoe Club Sponsored Event (1.5 Days)

This course will teach you Functional Free Style Canoeing which is a discipline that emphasizes smooth, efficient flatwater paddling and precision boat control of open boat canoes. FreeStyle is a skill that can be applied to all canoeing situations.

Dates:

May 2nd Classroom- 7pm to 8:30pm, Haw River Canoe and Kayak Co, Saxapahaw NC

May 3rd, Saxapahaw Lake 9am to 4pm, Meet at Haw River Canoe and Kayak Co, Saxapahaw NC

Instructors: Marc Ornstein:  Former ACA L3 Freestyle Canoe Instructor and L2 River Canoe Instructor who now travels around the country teaching functional freestyle canoeing clinics and William Holman who will be his co instructor to allow for more slots. (For course specific questions, please contact William at williamjh33@gmail.com)

Cost: $70. / Registration will open April 4 th at 9 A.M. / 7 Slots available

Non-Club Member Cost $100. / If all the slots are not filled by April 20th, the remaining slots will be open to the public for the non-club member cost.

Open to CCC Members only.  ACA Membership or $10 ACA Event Fee Required. (CCC Membership is different than ACA Membership and they are not equivalent for the insurance).  Waivers will needed for the event and those will be emailed out to all the students ahead of time.

The Class:

Watch this video to get an idea of what Marc teaches:  Marc Ornstein / Lady in Red / Freestyle Canoeing

This video is a performance style of FreeStyle Canoeing where canoeists paddle to music, presenting canoe control and grace as an expressive, interpretive art form. While this form of paddling has been called “water ballet”, the skills learned also translate to better and more efficient control in normal river and lake paddling.

While FreeStyle can be done using various standard canoes, paddles and life jackets, certain gear will be better suited. A list is included. A kneeling pad is very desirable.

The May 2nd evening indoor class will be held at Haw River Canoe and Kayak offices. Terminology and gear will be discussed. Sample videos of FreeStyle will be shown and discussed. This class will last approximately 90 minutes.

The May 3rd on-water class is a full day. Participants will gather at the Haw River Canoe and Kayak offices at 9am. After a brief introduction, participants will move with their boats and gear to Saxapahaw Lake. Bring a lunch. The day will end at 4pm.

Marc Ornstein will do an on-water demonstration afterwards on the Haw River near the HRCK offices.

List of Preferred Gear:

While a variety of equipment can be used, the following is a list of preferred gear.

1. The canoes must be set up for kneeling, with either a kneeling seat or kneeling thwart several inches behind centerline.  Tandem canoes (without a center seat) are not suitable.

2.  A modest amount of rocker is helpful, 1-3″.  Highly rockered, whitewater “play” boats are not suitable. Straight keeled “fast” touring boats will give students less than optimal feedback from their maneuvers. 3. The most suitable solo canoes are generally 12-15′ long and 26-32″ wide with modestly rounded bottoms and chines.

If anyone has a question about suitability of a specific canoe, matched to a specific paddler (size does matter), please contact Jason Jones, coordinator, at jstrokejonesiii@gmail.com

Paddles should be straight shafts. Bent shafts have their place but not for this workshop. Wide blades that smoothly fair into the shafts are preferred. Long bladed beaver tail styles are not optimal. Shaft length should be such that when the blade is in the water, at the catch or a bit behind, the blade should be mostly submerged with the grip hand at approximately nose level.
Short shafts cause the grip arm to angle down, and long shaft force the paddle to reach high. We’ll talk about all of this during the Friday night class.

Paddlers will need some sort of kneeling pads. Larger is better for this event.

If you have any questions prior to or after registration, please contact me at williamjh33@gmail.com