This weekend, we found two great ideas for y’all fun-lovin’ paddlers. Too bad it’s so late in the season here, because both involve your body careening into the water.

Canoe jousting and kayak jumping were overwhelmingly popular attractions at the first RiverRocks Festival in Chattanooga, TN. The weekend-long celebration aimed to support conservation efforts in the Tennessee River Valley. Judging from the long lines of repeat jousters, it sounded pretty successful.

The canoe jousting saw 2-person teams trying to thump each other overboard, using large foam soccer-bopper sticks. Nearby, a 15-foot kayak jump (with a 1-foot kicker at the bottom) was also well-utilized. Spectators might have seen several corkscrews and 180s… a good share of epic fails…

Events like this sound fantastic, but moreover it gives us hope that these things are happening. It’s so much easier for people to support a cause when they’re smack in the middle of celebrating it. We’d love to see more conservation groups and tourism boards in Minnesota take this approach to raising funds and awareness.

Or at least fit the jousting into what they’re already doing… please? Just for us.

[Photo: Dan Henry/Chattanooga Times Free Press]