Beyond Rolling: Ropes and Harpoons with Aidan Manning

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At SSTIKS 2025, Andrew sits down with Aidan Manning, a young paddler and ropes mentor from Minnesota, to explore some of the lesser-known traditions of Greenland-style kayaking. The conversation dives deep into Greenland rope gymnastics, including its origins as a winter pastime among Inuit children playing on suspended harpoon lines inside crowded homes during the long Arctic winter. Aidan explains how the movements relate directly to kayak rolling technique and why ropes remain an important part of traditional kayaking culture today.

The discussion also turns to harpoon throwing, one of the most fascinating and least understood events practiced at Greenland kayaking gatherings. Aidan describes learning to throw at floating targets, the surprisingly complex mechanics of the traditional toggling harpoon and norsaq, and the challenge of building authentic hunting gear. Along the way, the episode captures the atmosphere of SSTIKS itself, where traditions beyond rolling and paddle carving continue to be preserved.

Transcript

[ANDREW]
Okay, I'm here at SSTIKS with Aidan Manning.

He came all the way from Minneapolis, Minnesota to attend this event. Aidan is an expert at rope gymnastics. What's the Greenlandic term for that?

[AIDAN]
I couldn't tell you, but it does say on this bandana, so I might have that there.

[ANDREW]
I love these bandanas. 

[AIDAN] 
A Dubside original. 

[ANDREW] 
Yeah, okay. 

Dubside 2015, it says.

[AIDAN]
Yeah, he did all the artwork by their funny little stick figures, and it explained all the ropes up to 2015. I understand that since then there's been a couple more low ropes moves added. 

[ANDREW] 
“Qattaarneq”. Why don’t you hold it up.

[AIDAN] 
Yeah. So, a Dubside original bandana. These are everywhere.

[ANDREW] 
Very cool.

So, how did you first get into Greenland ropes gymnastics, and what attracted you to it?

[AIDAN]
So, it was a family event that brought me into this. My grandpa's been coming to camps for as long as there's been camps. He helped… he wasn't an organizer, but was one of the first attendees for both of the camps that are in Minnesota. 

[ANDREW] 
Oh, okay, the training camps. 

[AIDAN] 
Yep, we have the Traditional Paddlers Gathering and Qajaq Camp.

So, we are very fortunate to have both ends of the season covered with Greenlandic style camps. My first event was a traditional paddlers gathering. I believe it was 20, I want to say 2016, and the first time I'd ever been in any kind of Greenlandic style camp.

And Uncle Dave, which is a very prominent name over on the East Coast, he is mostly at Delmarva and sometimes gets around, might get to the training camp in Michigan. He was one of the guest mentors at the gathering. So, me being the young, almost teenager I was, I wasn't allowed to be as unsupervised on the water as I was around the camp, and front and center of our campsite was the Greenlandic ropes.

[ANDREW]
Okay.

[AIDAN]
So, Uncle Dave is very, very keen on teaching the youngest generation that is present, and all generations after that is, how to play on the ropes and do the Greenlandic moves. So, there was me and my brother out there and absolutely just loving everything that he had to teach for us.

[ANDREW]
So, you learned all this from Uncle Dave?

[AIDAN]
This was, it all started with Uncle Dave. He is a big part of why I am taken up on the ropes and have started teaching that in the events that I attend.

[ANDREW]
So, did you set up ropes at home and practice at home?

[AIDAN]
Yep. So, after the first time I ever tried ropes, we had an unfinished basement with two exposed beams. It just happened to be the perfect distance.

So, we threw a couple anchors up and all of a sudden there was low ropes in the basement ready to just do whatever I wanted to do. 

So, with the exposed drywall, we had one of the bandanas pinned up and every day we'd try to figure out how to do one of the moves better or just to get a new move in general.

[ANDREW]
Cool. For people who don't know that much about Greenland ropes gymnastics, why is it important to try it out and practice?

[AIDAN]
Of course. Well, Greenlandic ropes has been a tradition for as long as kids have been born. So, this was born out of harpoon lines being strung up in their huts and whatever that is they were living in.

During those long cabin fever months, this is how the kids would just see those two lines hanging up because you had a line for the harpoon head and a line for the harpoon. So, that's why there's two lines and they would just get up there and start playing around and it was a friendly competition between family saying, hey, look what I can do. Here's how I can go around the ropes.

Can you do that? And that's like the origin of the ropes and it was just friendly competition that I just built on and kept adding more and more moves to. And then the Greenlandic competition kind of chose that as one of their events because they're, well, it's childish at heart and it's something that is pretty much available for anybody at any age of any ability to get out and be physically active and to partake in a friendly competition.

And then the ropes are also very important for doing like a dry land exercise of rolling. There's a lot of similarities between rolling a kayak and doing ropes on land. So, Qajassaarneq, I believe, translates to “like rolling a kayak” when you sit in the ropes and you pull them together and it looks like you're sitting in the cockpit of a kayak.

So, when you do that, it's a very similar motion to a sweep if you go over on the right or if you're going back, it's like a reverse sweep that brings you onto the front deck. So, it's got a lot of similarities that even if you're not in the water, you can still practice some of the skills that are required for rolling at any time of the year.

[ANDREW]
Yeah, and I noticed that in your demonstration yesterday about the same kind of movements like arching your back, extending your legs, and then tucking in your torso and trying to bring your head down as much as possible, rolling yourself across those those ropes.

[AIDAN]
Exactly, it's like getting down to the front deck or using your hips and a hip snap to bring a roll up.

[ANDREW]
Yeah, so do you paddle Greenland style?

[AIDAN]
I do paddle the Greenland style. I take a stick everywhere I go and a backup stick in the front because that's just the way I like to paddle. I do harpooning though, that is the other sport that I really picked up on.

[ANDREW]
Oh yeah, okay, let's talk about harpooning. How did you learn how to do that?

[AIDAN]
So, harpooning is every kid's dream because they get to take a stick and see how far they get to throw it. So, I got hooked onto that when a mentor at the gathering as well named Sipke was there and he threw a harpoon on my deck and off I went. We started by throwing at a gallon milk jug that was as big as the target was.

We just had a rock attached to this gallon milk jug.

[ANDREW]
And this is on land or?

[AIDAN]
This is floating in the water.

[ANDREW]
Oh wow.

[AIDAN]
So, me and two other people and we're just circling around this milk jug and no one's getting anywhere near it. So, eventually we start getting a little closer and a little closer to actually hitting it and Sipke is right there just giving out tips every which way because Sipke had all of the knowledge in the world on that. So, he had the equipment, he had the knowledge and it really played to my strengths because at that point I was already throwing playing cards and shot put for track and field.

So, in the state of Minnesota we can't throw javelin until college level and so that was kind of the equivalent for me.

[ANDREW]
Yeah.

[AIDAN]
You got to pick up on that pretty quick.

[ANDREW]
Did you make your own harpoon?

[AIDAN]
I've tried a couple of times but I think I've bitten off more than I could chew trying to make a period accurate harpoon to the Greenland standards. Because it's very complex with the two toggling heads.

But it is in my plans to make one.

[ANDREW]
Even where it fits on the norsaq.

And there's like a little peg on it and to be able to get it to detach quickly at the right angle.

[AIDAN]
Some of the harpoons that we've made, Sipke and I, we made the norsaq out of wood and the correct way to do it is to oversize the hole that the pegs go into and then put a resin or even like a piece of delrin in there and then drill a hole through that. Because if you leave it as just wood, the wood tends to swell and expand.

[ANDREW]
Okay.

[AIDAN]
And by the third throw every harpoon we made that year stuck to the norsaq and that's not a good feeling.

[ANDREW]
So, it has to be just the right tightness.

[AIDAN]
Yep. So, if you leave it too loose, the harpoon will fall off the norsaq at any time.

So, some of the appeal is that with that angled back trigger pin, it holds the norsaq on but still allows enough play so that when you have a good throw.

The angle allows the front of the harpoon to detach before the back and which is the only reason why you can actually throw it into an arc.

If your target is 30 feet in front of you, you have to throw it probably at a 40-50 degree angle.

With enough power that it goes up and it's supposed to come down straight on the point and that's so that it can get that second harpoon head like four inches ideally into a seal or whatever they're hunting.

That way it allows it enough move or enough room to turn sideways and that detaches from the rest of the harpoon.

[ANDREW]
Okay.

How'd you end up at SSTIKS?

[AIDAN]
So, SSTIKS is in their rebuild year here and they have never had a mentor specifically for ropes.

And Dubside’s already doing so much on the water that they're looking for an additional mentor to mentor their mentors. So, I'm going to be here teaching all of their mentors that are interested on how to safely spot the ropes and how to encourage students in their endeavors because the ropes are not easy. Not everybody's going to be able to do even a single move.

[ANDREW]
Very good. Well, it's great to have you. 


[AIDAN] 
Absolutely. Thank you, Andrew. 

[ANDREW] 
Thank you. 

Hey, everyone.

In July 2026, Dubside and I will be leading Team Qajaq USA, the largest team of Americans ever assembled to compete in Qaannamik Unammersuarneq, the Greenland National Kayaking Championships. And we'll be documenting the experience in podcast interviews and short videos like this. Be sure to check out our Instagram to get the latest updates and also check out our online store, the Dubside Supply Company, for limited edition Team Kayak USA merch, including the collectible team jacket and Qajaq USA beanies.

All proceeds go to support the team. And if you're feeling especially generous, you can help support the team by donating to our GoFundMe Nuuk 2026 Expedition Fund. Our mission is to support the community of passionate enthusiasts of traditional kayaking, such as you, through spreading knowledge and storytelling.

Thanks so much for listening.