Greenland Rope Gymnastics

Fall 2007

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
To download a pdf copy of the magazine click here: > DOWNLOAD

by John Gamba

For me, learning something new is always a solitary experience. I dislike being watched, especially when doing something which could lead to embarrassment. However, today I am determined to shun my paranoia and shut out my surroundings, like I do when I’m about to swing a golf club.

Setting up for the roll, I prepare myself, mentally going through the steps necessary to be completely committed to the maneuver. After rocking back and forth in indecision, I tuck my head and hesitantly roll forward. Before I know it, I am upside down and trying to work though the next steps—without success. The first half of this roll, having gone according to plan, has left me holding on to try to get upright before bailing. Time passes as I continue to search for some magic counter-balance move that had eluded my lower body, which I blame for my un-righted state. I am, however, not cold, out of breath or disoriented, nor is water flooding into my nostrils, causing me to panic.

Calm and self aware, I am slung upside down between a pair of Greenland Ropes in a gymnastic apparatus at the West Coast Sea Kayaking Symposium in Port Townsend. In full view of the observing public, I awkwardly bail out, butt first in a bump to a mat eight inches below, with one leg still slung to the ropes above (so much for unwarranted paranoia). Later, Dubside may have some suggestions for me, and I trust that at some point I will master the basic Qajaasarneq move (Greenlandic for “like rolling a kayak”).

“The rope gymnastics are useful for practising and exercising in all seasons of the year. These techniques are excellent exercise for working and strengthening your muscles and tendons. If you want to be an excellent kayak roller and strong paddler, you should practise rope gymnastics. Practising rope gymnastics will make your body strong and flexible.”

Maligiaq Padilla, Greenland National Kayaking Champion

Rope Gymnastics are officially known as Allunaariaqattaarneq, translated: “games performed using harpoon line.” They are a collection of Inuit maneuvers with origins going back hundreds of years, developed by the Inuit peoples of North America and East and West Greenland. The oversight of the sport is now handled by the Greenland Kayaking Association or Kayaks Club—Qaannat Kattuffiat—and the sport is part of the Greenland National Kayaking Championships held there every year.

Unlike European gymnastics that are based on rigid high and uneven bars, these “games” are performed independently on low and high ropes. Two low ropes are suspended roughly waist high, and high ropes are generally within an arm’s reach. High ropes require strength and endurance to perform maneuvers; low ropes are the easier to learn, with a varying level of difficulty. Learning the ropes helps to build strength in the torso, legs and arms, and to improve balance, flexibility and timing. Over time, it will help condition the mind and body beyond strength or endurance, in ways paddlers need, bringing a composure many of us find through Yoga.

Most children in Greenland first learn rope gymnastics before ever rolling a kayak in the ice-cold water. It is fun, challenging, competitive, yet reasonably safe, which is why it is taught so early to children.

My friend Dubside, whom many know as a world-renowned rolling expert willing to share the skills of rolling to anyone, competitors and beginners alike, is bringing the sport of Greenland Rope Gymnastics to many people. When I asked why he has gone through the great difficulty of mastering and demonstrating this sport around the world, he replied, “I want to expose people to the culture of the Inuit and the natives of Greenland, by sharing their kayaking and rope gymnastics skills. The benefit of these sports to adult kayakers and children is especially great. I would like one day to see groups coming from Greenland to demonstrate this sport here in North America, including those children who master and compete in this sport.”

Dubside, who started learning the ropes around 2000, emphasizes that it has made him a better kayaker, especially in performing the over thirty different Greenlandic rolls in competitions.

At symposiums and workshops around the world, his rope gymnastic demonstrations draw large crowds, which include many children eager and unabashed at trying the rolls in public. I am constantly surprised at how young children can knock off many of the low rope maneuvers with relatively little instruction or help. Though he has put his own mark on the sport, having recently acquired a state-of-the-art collapsible aluminum apparatus, Dubside gives credit to the founders of the sport and to their heritage. He teaches the Greenlandic names for all the rope and kayak roll maneuvers.

After competing in the Greenland Kayaking Championships in 2004, Dubside accomplished many “firsts,” including being possibly the first non-Greenlander to compete expertly in the ropes competition. In 2006, he achieved one of the sport’s highest scores overall, and his agent, Tom Sharp, earned a gold medal in the senior’s competition. They have produced an instructional DVD of the low rope maneuvers: Qajaasarneq. The DVD provides a comprehensive introduction to setting up the ropes, and is an easy to follow, narrated guide through each of the low rope maneuvers. Each exercise consists of a specified position from which you must bring yourself completely around the ropes and return to the starting position. With high and low ropes combined, there are a total of seventy-four different moves, all with Greenlandic names and point values based on the degree of difficulty.

You don’t need a modular frame, a couple of trees or a wooden swing set will do.

I started with some of the low rope maneuvers, achievable with the detailed guidance in Dubside’s DVD. The first time I spun completely around, without muscling through, felt very empowering, just like my first effortless kayak roll. The skill is not in brute force, but rather based on body position, flexing at the right time, and mostly, committing oneself to the whole maneuver. It is easy to see why Greenlanders have preserved these skills, and now practice this sport to compete and to prepare for kayaking. I feel like a kid doing this sport, and know that it will help me with many of the advanced Greenland rolls. If I can do it, how about you?

If you visit www.Dubside.net you will find help in setting up ropes, and details on his instructional video, which is available through many outlets in Canada and the US.

Throughout the next paddling season, Dubside will be demonstrating rope gymnastics in at least seven paddle-sport venues in Canada and the US, and teaching workshops in the Pacific Northwest, the BC Lower Mainland and on Vancouver Island. He will be touring with his new portable rope gymnastics frame. This modular apparatus was designed by Tom Gamba and Surrey Fluid Power Ltd. engineer Jerry Leung with the assistance of Tom Sharp and Dubside.

I believe that anyone who wants to improve his or her advanced kayaking skills should consider Greenland Rope Gymnastics. Giving it a try will bring great satisfaction and conditioning for kayaking, gymnastics, swimming and a host of other sports. Besides, it’s good play!

Those who have helped preserve and expand the sport include:

Qaannat Kattuffiat - www.qajaqusa.org/QK/QK.html

Qajaq USA - www.qajaqusa.org/QUSA/qusa.php

Manasse Mathaeussen - Greenlandic kayaking skills were in serious danger of being lost forever. In fact many of the techniques were lost but to this one man—the dean of Greenland kayaking.

John Heath - www.seakayakermag.com/2000/june2000/JuneHeath3.htm

Maligiaq Padilla - www.qajaqusa.org/Technique/ropegymnasticsartwork.htm

Greg Stamer - www.qajaqusa.org/QUSA/bio_greg.html

Dubside - www.dubside.net

Culture Greenland - www.culture.gl

Ropes diagrams - www.qajaqusa.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=36639