Racing 101
August-September 2002
This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
To download a pdf copy of the magazine click here: > DOWNLOAD
by Alex Matthews
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Jerome Truran at Deep Cove Canoe & Kayak's
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An amazing thing has happened to me lately. I have started racing sea kayaks! Amazing, because I don't have much of a killer instinct, I'm not very competitive or strong and have a distinct tendency to stop paddling when it starts to hurt. And, oh yeah - I'm really pretty slow. But I'm having fun, getting a great workout, meeting new people and really improving my forward stroke.
It all started when I headed over to Deep Cove Canoe & Kayak Centre's weekly Tuesday Night Race in North Vancouver. I had heard that something really cool was going on over there, so I packed up my boat and headed over the bridge to check it out. I was adamant that I wasn't interested in racing and so the first time I just surveyed the scene and went for a leisurely paddle on my own. But a funny thing happened, everyone was so friendly and there was such a great atmosphere, that I went back the next week. Not to race exactly, but just to go for a paddle with the group. You know, hang out with a bunch of like-minded folks. It was great, but this one Amazon woman was passing me, and something inside of me just sort of wouldn't let that go. So I kept up. Then I passed her. Man, I crushed her. Ok, so she was a very petite beginner paddler and I barely beat her. And she was in her sixties (late sixties - but spry!), but the point is; I was racing now!
The first shocking thing that I realized was that despite years of paddling whitewater and guiding sea kayak trips, I didn't know a thing about efficiently propelling a sea kayak forward at speed. That's when I realized that I needed some advice. Daryl Remmler is a highly experienced paddler and local outdoor gear rep. Last year he won both the Ecomarine BCMTA Marathon and The Round Bowen Island Race. In both instances he was paddling a double with a different partner in each race. My first question was whether he was capable of actually winning a race on his own, in a single kayak, without the support of a paddling partner. We laughed over my witty opening and after an incredibly punishing workout that reduced me to tears and Daryl to a tiny speck on my horizon, I was allowed to ask my second question.
"What is the main mistake that beginner paddlers make with their stroke?"
"Most touring oriented paddlers are really paddling with their arms instead of their whole bodies. What I'm getting at here is the concept of torso rotation. If you compare the size of your biceps or arm muscles with the size your back & trunk muscles, you'll immediately understand the benefit of using the whole torso and those big muscles to power the kayak forward."
Try spreading your grip on the paddle shaft. Really exaggerate it by shifting your hands further apart by a good 4 - 6 inches. With this rather ungainly new grip, you'll find that you really have to rotate your torso in order to paddle. This is just a drill and not something that you would do for any distance, but remember the feeling of that rotation and try to get it working for you in your forward stroke.
"Another problem area is posture. When beginner paddlers are trying to go fast they tend to lean way forward and this again impedes rotation. You've got to paddle with the whole body not just the arms in order to be efficient and powerful. The best position for generating good rotation is with the back nice and straight. Not slumped forward or back, but straight."
As paddlers improve their technique, the rotation typically migrates down the body. In other words it starts with a small twisting motion back and forth at the sternum level and slowly moves down the body to the waist. The idea is to coil the big muscles of the torso and then unwind them with each stroke. After a good hard paddle you should really be feeling your lats not your arms.
"What about gear?"
"The biggest problem out there relative to gear is paddle length. Most dealers seem to be selling people paddles that are, in my opinion, way too long. A paddle that is too long simply doesn't allow you to take an efficient stroke. Unfortunately there is no magic formula for figuring out the perfect length so I really like the new breed of 2- piece adjustable paddle shafts."
Epic Paddles, for instance, offer their length-lock system that allows the paddler to adjust the overall length of the paddle by 10 cm. Feather can be set to any angle, right or left control as well. It is a very convenient system but it does come at a pretty hefty price.
"I think that people under 5'9" should look to an adjustable paddle with a beginning length of about 210cm and those over 5'9" should start at 215cm. The beauty of the adjustable shaft is that if you start with a 215cm length, you can actually increase the length of that same paddle to 225cm or anything in between."
"What About boats?"
"One trend that I do see with the race crowd is a tendency to buy a boat that is too advanced for the paddler. Folks are buying boats that are fine for them on perfectly flat, calm conditions but they don't have the skills to paddle them in wind and waves, and that is very limiting. It's a real shame because there are so many beautiful spots to paddle where the water is not going to be flat."
"What do you love best about paddling?"
"I strive to be efficient, sprinting to catch that little wave, catching the ride, linking it to the next one. This is something that I do even in my fully loaded kayak. I love it. The thing about paddling is that you are never done learning. I am now in my 32nd year of paddling and I'm still learning new stuff about the forward stroke and trying to improve mine. It's not that my stroke is bad, it's that it can always be better. You can always work on it. Beginner to intermediate paddlers typically take every kind of course under the sun - the rescue course, the navigation course, the intermediate strokes course, the advanced strokes course, rolling, bracing, sculling, astral navigation and drumming. And that's great, but they take them all except the forward stroke clinic! And virtually all of paddling is about the forward stroke. It's crazy!"
"Want to go for a paddle?"
"Sure!"
"Can we attach a bucket to the back of your boat to slow you down a little?"
"No."
So, slowly, I'm getting faster. I doubt that I'll ever actually be fast, but for me it's more about improving my stroke and conditioning for touring and whitewater. And, it's a lot of fun. Now, after far too many misspent years, I'm finally paying some serious attention to the single most important stroke in the whole sport of kayaking. In Vancouver there is a lot going on: Bob Putnam at Deep Cove Canoe & Kayak Centre has led the charge in popularizing sea kayak racing. There is a race every Tuesday night at 7:00 pm. There is always a paddling component and sometimes a running and/or swimming leg may be included 'to spice things up'. Cost is a mere $3 to enter, rentals for those without their own kayaks are available at $12 for a single and $15 for a double. Be sure to book rentals early as they sell out!
This year Ecomarine is also offering a Wednesday race night based out of Jericho beach. There are four main sea kayak racing events in BC:
- The Round Bowen Island Race sponsored by Bowen Island Sea Kayaking: 604 947-9266, www.bowenislandkayaking.com
- Ecomarine BCMTA Marathon sponsored by Ecomarine Kayak Center: 604 689-7575, www.ecomarine.com
- Deep Cove Tour de Indian Arm sponsored by Deep Cove Canoe & Kayak Centre: 604 929-2268, www.deepcovekayak.com
- BC Championships Sea Kayak Race - Bike & Kayak Festival Weekend, this year September 14-15 sponsored by Gabriola Cycle & Kayak: 604 247-8277, www.gck.ca.
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