What’s paddling about? Whether you paddle canoe, kayak, sea kayak, a bathtub or a washing-up bowl – it should be about paddling, yes?
For me it’s a Canoe. A form of the ‘traditional’ craft that was used throughout the North American wilderness.
The last few years have seen a change in the way we approach paddling, there are still folk who PADDLE, but there are increasingly a lot of folk who ‘paddle’ just for their role as an instructor in an outdoor activity setting. There have been changes in the approach of training those people, some say for the better, some say for worse… what I don’t really hear amongst the majority is about why we paddle! Should it not be because of what paddling is about? Exploration, Adventure, Escape..!
How many of us can really say, with a resounding affirmation that what we deliver in terms of paddle-sport 100% is truly Exploratory, Adventurous and Escapist…? For me using my canoe fleet is about taking people on a journey, one that might be slow or fast, but one that allows time to become immersed in the surroundings, allows the person to breathe, shows them a different perspective and maybe, just maybe introduces them to a pastime in which they can progress or follow in their own way. It’s not about teaching or coaching specifics, it’s about getting out and experiencing. Yes there is some coaching going on, but not at the expense of the experience. I don’t really care if every other stroke is performed less than text-book fashion or the individual has no trunk rotation or connectivity to the boat – what is important is that they are immersed in the experience and want to come back.
Far too often fresh ‘coaches’ are primarily focused on the extremely short session that their employer seems to want to churn out, why are we perpetuating this method of introducing what we supposedly love. Do we really love what we do, or are we going through some motions to pretend we’re paddlers? Why aren’t we delivering holistic experiences based on the traditions of paddle-sport, whether it is journeying, exploration of our surroundings or a real adventure with unknown outcomes?
Out in the recreational world, and I don’t even mean clubs here, there are individuals doing exactly what paddling is about, they are challenging themselves, they are having adventures – sometimes on the boundary of success and epic. I believe that we should be encouraging this same philosophy in our educational guises, a common sense ’real’ approach to paddling.
Matt Thompson,
Wilderness Canoe
© 2025