{"id":24175,"date":"2025-03-10T17:57:51","date_gmt":"2025-03-10T16:57:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/?p=24175"},"modified":"2025-03-10T18:19:40","modified_gmt":"2025-03-10T17:19:40","slug":"driving-myself-loopy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pyranha.com\/blog\/driving-myself-loopy\/","title":{"rendered":"Driving Myself Loopy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Introduction:<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

April 29th, 2024 \u2013 I borrowed Niamh\u2019s playboat for a park-and-play session at Pinkston Water Sports<\/a>. After wobbling around in the features, I was quickly convinced to try a front loop. I squared up, paddled into the feature, and soared into the air\u2014arms raised high above my head! I was flying! I was sure I\u2019d land this on my first try and blow everyone away. A playboating god in the making\u2026 or not quite. In reality, my loop quickly evolved into a full-contact introduction to the water. Oh yes, the first of many face-flops to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The front loop felt like a pivotal move in playboating\u2014one you can\u2019t avoid if you\u2019re thinking about calling yourself a playboater. It\u2019s like the kayaking equivalent of learning to walk before you can run. The thing is, I felt like I had already been trying to run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In October 2023, I attended my first Park Jam as a team paddler for Pyranha. It was an incredible experience\u2014being surrounded by the likes of Bren Orton, Heidi Walsh, and the entire Pyranha and Palm team. But in that presence, I couldn\u2019t help but feel like a bit of an imposter. Though I\u2019m sure my love and passion for the sport got me there [Editor’s Note: Rowan is being extremely modest about her skills here, but her passion for the sport, warm nature, and willingness to get stuck in and help out certainly played a part, too!], I couldn\u2019t shake the feeling that there was a standard I should be at\u2014especially when Bren spent a large part of each session teaching the kids how to loop.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Bren at Park Jam 2023 about to teach like seven kids how to loop. This is when I realised that maybe it would be worth a go!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I had an amazing time on tour, but I knew deep down that if I was invited back the following year, I wanted to be able to contribute more. That meant stepping up my game. So, as the water warmed up and I spent more time at the artificial whitewater course at Pinkston, things started to align. There was no excuse anymore\u2014not if I wanted to level up and bring more to the table. My journey to mastering the front loop was officially about to begin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this blog, I\u2019ll take you through the physical and mental journey I went through to learn the loop. A journey filled with frustration, laughter, tears, supportive friends, eddy tantrums, and a lot of determination. Five months of falling on my face (literally), sort of determination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Failing, Learning, and Learning to Fail<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve always been sporty and enjoyed a challenge, but this was something else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turning Point: Finding My Flow<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d say mindset and maybe Nick Troutman\u2019s \u201cHow to Loop\u201d video were key to my success. It\u2019s interesting how much the way we talk to ourselves can affect our performance. In the early stages of my mission, I referred to it as \u201cfalling-on-my-face practice.\u201d I was having a lot of fun, but not once did I turn up to a session thinking, “I could actually do this today.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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