Freestyle kayaking and canoeing is one of the most dynamic subsets of whitewater paddlesports. If you’ve ever seen someone paddling a very short, stumpy looking kayak, then the chances are that they were in a modern freestyle boat. So what’s it all about, then?
Freestyle, quite simply, is all about performing tricks in your kayak or canoe on a feature such as a wave or a hole, or even on flat water. It’s similar to the idea of slope style in snowboarding, or using a half pipe in skateboarding. In some ways it could be considered to be the BMX of kayaking, but there’s much more to it than that.
At the extreme, freestyle kayakers can throw huge loops into the air, as well as impressive combinations of moves. But freestyle isn’t just for advanced paddlers, it’s for everyone right from beginners through to veterans who might have only paddled river boats until now. Whether you just want to enjoy a soul surf, carving along a green wave, spin your boat, or push yourself to be able to perform aerial moves, there’s an aspect of freestyle to suit any paddler no matter what their current level.
Freestyle offers many crossover benefits to the rest of your paddling. It increases your boat balance and awareness. It increases your boat control. It increases your ability to stay in control under pressure, and it will allow you to develop skills that’ll help you deal with features along any river run. Freestyle will also hugely improve your roll. Yep, you will be getting very wet indeed, very often! As a result, your overall confidence will increase in your boat due to an increasingly reliable roll in all sorts of situations and positions.
Telford Canoe Club aims to increase the opportunities for club members to take part and have a go at freestyle because of the huge benefits that it brings. We organise regular workshops with GB freestyle team members, and many of our talented younger members have been taking part in national grass roots freestyle schemes such as the Burners events.
However, freestyle isn’t just for the young. Paddlers of every age can benefit from trying freestyle as long as there’s an expectation to go upside down a lot! Freestyle is about experimentation and having sheer fun on the water, and forms a large part of Telford Canoe Club’s ethos of giving members the opportunity to take part in a wide variety of different types of paddlesports.