Side surfing is to canoeing as bull riding is to rodeo. Both give you a wild ride provided you’re in a kicking hole on a lively bull.
Side surfing occurs (whether you want it to or not) when your canoe is cradled in the trough of a breaking wave or hydraulic. Riding a hole perpendicularly to the current ranges from a smooth see-sawing action to a rough arm-jerkin’ bull ride with lots of splash entering your canoe and the ever-present threat of the upstream edge catching and you being thrown from your boat.
You’re unlikely to begin your bull-riding career on Little Yellow Jacket, a three-time world champion. Similarly, if you are new to side surfing don’t choose a hole that is too threatening—find one that has a short foam pile on the downstream side and a current entering the hole that isn’t too fast. The foam pile should be wide enough to accommodate the entire length of your canoe, with enough water below so that you won’t hit your head when you get bucked off.
A bull ride lasts eight seconds. We may be lucky to have a ride this long while side surfing, but then again if we get thrown from our saddle it’s not likely to hurt as much. Just remember cowboy, keep you upper body quiet, your hips loose, and hang on.
How to side surf:
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Side surfing works when your canoe rests in the seam between the water falling over a rock and the recirculating foam pile on the downstream side.
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Hold the canoe as flat as possible with only enough downstream tilt to keep the upstream edge from catching and flipping you.
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Let your legs move with the boat and use them to control the tilt. Hold your upper body still and centre your weight over the canoe.
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Place your paddle in the foam pile on your downstream side. Use forward and backward strokes for moving forward and back in the hole and braces if the surf gets too rough.
Andrew Westwood is a frequent contributor to Rapid, an open canoe instructor at the Madawaska Kanu Centre and a member of Team Esquif.
This article first appeared in the Summer 2005 issue of Rapid Magazine. For more great content, subscribe to Rapid’s print and digital editions here.
