ORONO, Maine — With just two days of practice in a narrow, tippy, wildwater canoe, 15-year-old Elias Veilleux took a major step forward Wednesday afternoon: He graduated to an even more slender, unstable boat.
“Get your paddle in the water,” said Jeff Owen, who coaches the junior and under-23 wildwater teams of the Maine Canoe and Kayak Racing Organization. “Be slow. Methodical.”
The current was slow on the Stillwater River, but before long, Owen was fishing Veilleux’s boat out of the water, emptying it of water, and watching as the high school freshman tucked himself back into the cockpit.
“You OK?” Owen asked.
“Yup,” Veilleux replied, smiling broadly.
“That’s a good start,” Owen said.
That wouldn’t be the only time Veilleux dumped himself into the water during the 90-minute workout. And he wouldn’t be alone. Over the course of an hour and a half, several teammates would end up swimming instead of paddling.
Their coach patiently offered advice and chased down capsized boats and bobbing paddlers to offer assistance.
“It was a solid month [before a previous student and I] could get into the boats on our own and paddle them for a ways without flipping them over,” Owen confides, recalling his introduction to wildwater boats just three years ago. “And that was just paddling on flatwater.”
Welcome to the wonderful (and often wet) world of wildwater canoeing.
Not your average craft
A non-paddling observer would look at the wildwater canoes the team uses and think they’re kayaks.
They’re decked, or covered, like kayaks. They’re not open like your average canoe. And they’re remarkably narrow. Paddlers wear neoprene spray skirts that seal off the cockpit and keep water out of their boats and can make their way through bigger rapids than racers in open canoes.
“In a kayak, you sit in the bottom [of the boat] with your legs out in front of you, and you use a double-bladed paddle,” Owen said. “In a wildwater canoe, you kneel on a kneeling saddle, so your legs are tucked underneath you, and you use a single-bladed canoe paddle.”
If that position doesn’t sound overly comfortable, it isn’t, according to 16-year-old Kellen Doyle of Orono, who began wildwater paddling a year ago and made the U.S. Junior team last summer. But he said the discomfort goes away eventually.
“It’s an interesting feeling, five minutes into a paddle, when your legs finally go to sleep,” Doyle said. “They stop hurting at that point.”
And while you’re much more apt to tip over in a wildwater boat — especially when first learning — there’s a tradeoff.
Wildwater boats are amazingly fast.
Owen said at last year’s world championships in North Carolina, the under-23 champ paddled a sprint course that top-notch open canoeists cover in about three minutes. The wildwater winner finished in just 55 seconds.
And that’s part of the allure for those who take up the sport.
“It’s a huge adrenaline rush to just try to keep your balance and paddle and steer all at once,” Owen said. “It’s like the ramped-up version of [the whitewater canoeing] that’s popular here in Maine.”
Hannah Rubin, 18, of Bangor began paddling wildwater boats under Owen’s tutelage two years ago and also made the U.S. Junior team in 2015. She loves paddling in general but relishes the speed and unpredictability of wildwater boats.
“I love the fast boats and how much time it takes to stay in them,” Rubin said. “There were days [when I was beginning] when I was wet and cold and not very happy, but I just love canoeing.”
Back on the water
Two of the paddlers in Owen’s six-member group — Rubin and Doyle — are veterans. The other four are beginners who are just learning the basics.
And in wildwater boats, it seems nearly everything can be a challenge at first. The paddlers treat each obstacle with smiles, and some good-natured ribbing can take place.
“You never know. I could accidentally roll,” one beginning paddler joked, describing the difficult maneuver of flipping one’s canoe back upright while staying in the cockpit.
Rubin laughed.
“It doesn’t work that way,” Rubin said.
Later, Veilleux was back in the water, having capsized in the middle of the Stillwater while performing a drill Owen organized.
Paddlers were trying to edge into the stronger current in the middle of the river, then turn away from that flow as soon as they felt their boat react.
Owen ended up catching up with Veilleux at a downstream island, and getting the still-grinning paddler back in his boat for another try.
Before the workout, Veilleux said he’d tipped over a couple of times the last time out and had come to expect that swimming was an important part of the learning process.
“I joined the canoe-racing team [that Owen coaches] earlier in the year. I really liked that so I wanted to try this,” Veilleux said. “This is a lot harder. It’s more fun. The boats are a lot faster, a lot tippier. It’s just a good challenge.”
And the tipping over?
“That’s enjoyable, too,” he said.
Owen said that reaction is typical.
“The kids immediately see the attraction [of the sport] because any time you get into a high-performance craft or vehicle, there’s something special about it. The kids just love it once they try it,” Owen said.
Doyle said he enjoyed progressing in the sport last year, but it wasn’t until competing at the world championships that he had the realization that has made him a much more confident paddler.
“One day in North Carolina I realized that the worst the water is going to do to me is take my boat or my paddle,” Doyle said. “I’m not going to get too hurt by it. That allowed me to not really worry about what happens and just paddle.”
Doyle is still improving daily, Owen said, as are the beginners in the club.
In order to improve, you often make mistakes that dump you back into the unforgiving river.
Just ask Veilleux.
When paddling back to the takeout point, Veilleux almost made it back semi-dry. A sudden change in current made him bobble, and he capsized again, just 20 yards from shore.
When Owen arrived, Veilleux was still grinning.
“I’ve got to tell you, Elias, I’m really impressed with your good humor,” Owen said.
Veilleux, soggy but none the worse for the experience, nodded in appreciation.
Just another productive day on the water.
The MaCKRO junior and under-23 wildwater teams are still accepting members ages 14-23. For more information, contact Jeff Owen at 866-8518 or jowen@rsu26.org.
