Page 73 - 2022-08-01 Paddling Magazine

GEORGE BERNARD SHAW WROTE,
“MAN RESOLUTELY PROGRESSES IN
ALL THINGS BY MAKING A FOOL OF
HIMSELF.” SO DO CANOEISTS.
PHOTO: GEOFF WHITLOCK

BOWLINES
It’s Good To Be Bad

In praise of the unfailing, life-altering power of being an adult learner by kaydi pyette

MY GOAL LAST WINTER was to become a half- waiting for the feeling in my hands to return enough or painting, but on a battery of cognitive tests. They’d
decent Great Lakes surfer. to wrestle out of the wetsuit. rolled back the odometers in their brains by some 30
That was my first mistake. Man, I thought, being a beginner sucks. years. They’d changed in other ways, too: they felt more
Forget that I’d only ever taken one surf lesson. I But the difficulty of awkward beginnings is worth confident, they were pleasantly surprised by their work,
don’t do any other board sports. And the frigid lake the trouble, according to Tom Vanderbilt, the author and they kept getting together after the study ended,”
isn’t the most conducive learning environment. I of Beginners: The Joy and Transformative Power of writes Vanderbilt about the findings of neuroscientists.
was undeterred. Lifelong Learning. The book highlights his yearlong It scarcely seems to matter what new skills are
Which is how I found myself bobbing around in experience tackling five new skills: chess, singing, learned—think surfing, bird watching, astropho-
Lake Ontario on a frigid December morning, squint- drawing, juggling and surfing. tography, Greenland-style kayak rolling, knot tying,
ing against the sleet pelting my cheeks, clad in six Vanderbilt begins his journey after noticing how juggling, whatever.
millimeters of neoprene. After 90 minutes of trying many parents spend the duration of their kids’ ex- “Learning new skills changes the way you see the
and failing to catch the short swells rolling past me, my tracurricular lessons on their phones. Desperate to world,” writes Vanderbilt. “Learning to sing changes
hands and feet were aching with cold—time to go in. shake up his “mid-career competence,” Vanderbilt the way you listen to music, while learning to draw
I paddled closer to shore to time my exit. joins his daughter in chess lessons and takes on learn- is a tutorial on the human visual system. Learning
“You goin’ in?” one surfer called over. The icicles ing as a sport. to weld is a crash course in physics and metallurgy.”
in his beard hid his smile. I read Beginners shortly after being chundered in Buoyed by the encouragement, I kept paddling
“Oh yeah,” I told him, misunderstanding his ques- the surf; around the same time, I wondered if I’d out. I spent my canoeing off-season captivated by
tion completely. missed the window to learn this skill. storm systems, water quality data reports and the
“Cool,” he said, turning away and paddling hard to Vanderbilt disagrees. hydrodynamics of waves, while also connecting with
catch the big wave I was also—unexpectedly—cresting. Yes, learning at a young age is easier. That’s partly a new community of water lovers.
I lost my balance, fell off my board and resurfaced. due to the sponge-like brains of youth. Sure, kids Vanderbilt’s advice is not to get hung up on goals.
I turtle rolled to miss the next crashing wave… came also have more free time. And they have less fear of My first mistake, remember?
back up… got smashed in the face with one wave, injury—both to body and ego. Nevertheless, regard- “Focus on the process, not some endpoint of mas-
two waves… lost grip on my board… got dragged less of age or how busy you are, introducing a new tery. Make learning itself the goal,” he says. “And
feet-first by my leash towards shore. I tried to get skill is one of the most life-enhancing things you can remember: Mistakes are okay. Mistakes are where
my footing and grab my board before the same re- do, Vanderbilt argues. Learning something new and the learning is happening.”
ceding wave pulled it past me and yanked me off challenging, particularly with a group, has proven It’s okay to be bad; we’ll get better—and hey, there
my feet again. Fail. benefits for the brain. are benefits even if we don’t.
Four waves toppled me before I staggered out and “A study that had adults aged 58 to 86 simultaneously
stumbled back to my snow-covered car. Inside I sat take multiple classes—ranging from Spanish to music Kaydi Pyette is the managing editor of Paddling Maga-
shivering, heat jacked, wet neoprene dripping onto composition to painting—found that after just a few zine. In mid-January, with the air temperature -7°C
the seats, my fingertips jammed into the air vents months, the learners had improved not only at Spanish and water temperature 2°C, she caught her first wave.

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