Paired Solo FreeStyle Exhibition

Jeff and Laura Liebel;
Midwest Freestyle Symposium;
Peninsula, Ohio;
September 2009;
Paddling to "Come What May" from the movie Moulin Rouge
Something clicked for us at AFS in July this year, so we decided to try to put together a routine. For 7 weeks between AFS & MFS, we have been paddling in circles, working on our paired solo freestyle routine. I only fell into Tonawanda Creek once!

We found that the goal of presenting an exhibition encouraged us to get out paddling - 12 out of 14 days in the past two weeks. I think we put about 40 hours of practice time in for a 4 1/2 minute canoe dance!

A Paired Solo is performed in two solo canoes. The routine has matched, mirrored and passing maneuvers. Our biggest challenge was to paddle and spin in sync - different boats spin at different rates, the varied strength and size of the paddlers, and the differences in our stroke mechanics or personal style all came into focus.

Overall we learned a lot, and had so much fun! Now that we finally saw the video, we are going to continue to fine tune the routine - and hope to perform at Raystown, the new Florida Freestyle Symposium in March, and at AFS next July. Enjoy!

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Freestyle
• Canoeing
• Canoe
• Midwest
• Symposium
• Paired
• Solo