I start canoeing; below a great curve, totally out of control (8)
I believe the answer is:
anarchic
'i start canoeing below a great curve totally out of control' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'i start canoeing below a great curve' is the wordplay.
'start' suggests taking the first letters.
'below' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other) (in a down clue, some letters go below others).
'a great curve' becomes 'anarch' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
The initial letter of 'canoeing' is 'c'.
'i'+'c'='ic'
'ic' put after 'anarch' is 'ANARCHIC'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for anarchic that I've seen before include "disregarding the law" , "Following no rules" , "With no ruling principles to give order" , "Lacking order" , "Lawless, out of control behaviour" .)