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Omer Stringer, the head(stand)master PHOTO: COURTESY DAVID STRINGER COLLECTION


of a circus showman, he did a standing broad jump from the dock into the moving canoe, clearing a couple yards or more without miss- ing a beat in his discourse. Howls of approval pealed out from the audience. Tere were other tricks as well. Canoe


over canoe is a rescue technique, of course. But the term also referred to a stunt per- formed regularly during free canoeing at camps throughout the ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s. Te stuntman or woman sat behind the


stern seat and paddled like crazy toward a willing participant in another canoe. Lining up for a T-bone collision, the stunt involved ramping the moving canoe as far as possible over the mid-ships of the stationary canoe. Next, in one fluid motion, the paddler stood and ran up the moving boat until it balanced over the stationary canoe, and then see- sawed down on the other side. At this point, the paddler settled in and continued on his or her merry way. Canoe over canoe. Te spectacular headstand was some-


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Since the passing in March of canoe guru Captain Kirk Wipper,


I’ve been thinking


about one of the first amazing things I ever saw him do in a canoe—a headstand on the center thwart of a 16-foot, wood-canvas Pe- terborough Canadian. Back when most rivers flowed the other


way because the ice age had yet to come, proficiency in a canoe included a variety of novelty moves that any novice hungered to learn from the masters. Take Omer Stringer, a contemporary of


Wipper’s, and his mesmerizing effect on young paddlers. Stringer mastered all the functional canoeing and portaging skills as a guide and general factotum in Algonquin


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Park. But in the 1960s he crisscrossed the province demonstrating canoe stunts—a kind of canoeing that is all but gone today, lost in the rush of getting certified and carded up. I vividly remember Omer standing on the


dock at Camp Kandalore, describing head- stands and shakeouts and all the cool stuff you could do in a canoe. As he was talking, his canoe, which floated behind him unte- thered, drifted gently away from the dock. Kids in the audience got agitated, point- ing and calling out to Omer: “Your canoe is floating away!” Totally unconcerned, he kept talking. Ten, with the power of a gymnast and the timing


1] House of the Rising Sun, The Animals 2] The Lion Sleeps Tonight, The Evening Birds


Campfire Songs GRAB A GUITAR AND SING UNTIL THERE’S NOTHING LEFT BUT EMBERS —Michael Mechan


TOP 40 16 SUMMER/FALL 2011


3] Time of your Life, Green Day 4] Cats in the Cradle, Harry Chapin 5] Harvest Moon, Neil Young 6] Wonderwall, Oasis 7] Free Falling, Tom Petty 8] Puff The Magic Dragon, Peter, Paul and Mary


9] American Pie, Don McLean 10] Brown Eyed Girl, Van Morrison 11] Leaving on a Jet Plane, John Denver 12] Wheat Kings, The Tragically Hip 13] This Land is Your Land, Woody Guthrie 14] The Gambler, Kenny Rogers


thing that many Kandalore campers felt compelled to learn if ever they were to pad- dle like a master. Training for the headstand included the monkey walk—turning 360 degrees in a canoe with hands and feet on the gunwales—and progressed to the flip— spinning the canoe on its longitudinal axis, above the water, without sinking it. Adding a second person opened doors to


gunwale bobbing, jousting and the double headstand. Since Kirk and Omer were doing their


stunts, and encouraging others to do the same, canoeing has evolved. Te glamor of these tricks has faded, lost to historic ir- relevance. Maybe today’s leaders should sit down and delineate a curriculum for Flat- water Stunting levels I, II and III certifica- tion. A flashy badge could be awarded to those who achieve Master Stuntman status. Why would you want to do a headstand in


a canoe on flatwater? It’s a bit like practicing Zen. A path to enlightenment known only to the great canoe masters of old and those willing to wade in and give it a whirl.


JAMES RAFFAN mastered the monkey walk in graduate school and is still working on his headstand.


15] Fire and Rain, James Taylor 16] Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd 17] Let It Be, The Beatles 18] The Weight, The Band 19] Father and Son, Cat Stevens 20] Blowin’ in the Wind, Bob Dylan 21] Lean On Me, Bill Withers 22] Weighty Ghost, Wintersleep 23] Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay, Otis Redding


24] Redemption Song, Bob Marley 25] Country Roads, John Denver 26] Mrs. Robinson, Simon and Garfunkel 27] Walk Away, Ben Harper 28] To Be With You, Mr. Big 29] More Than Words, Extreme


30] What I Got, Sublime 31] Take It Easy, The Eagles 32] Ring of Fire, Johnny Cash 33] Stuck In The Middle With You, Stealers Wheel


34] Day-O (The Banana Boat Song), Harry Belafonte


35] Every Rose Has Its Thorn, Poison 36] The Joker, The Steve Miller Band 37] Killing Me Softly, Roberta Flack 38] Send Me On My Way, Rusted Root 39] Where Have All the Flowers Gone, Pete Seeger


40] I Will Follow You into the Dark, Death Cab for Cutie


TO ADD YOUR FAVORITE SING-ALONGS TO THE LIST, VISIT WWW.CANOEROOTSMAG.COM/0014.


PHOTO: VIRGINIA MARSHALL


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