Somewhere in the second hour, the adjustments stop clearing. Not all at once, and not in a way that announces itself. A brief effort to close a small gap, the kind of effort you've made fifty times already, and then the effort is over but the cost isn't. Ten strokes [...]
Editors Note: 2026 Nationals is hosted in collaboration with the Blackburn Challenge. Register today at capeannrowingclub.com! Every edition of Nationals is a distinct test, shaped by its own water, its own wind, its own current. No two competitions are the same, even at the same venue. One year the wind [...]
Most paddlers arrive on race day with a reasonably-informed view of the conditions. They’ve checked forecasts, studied wind direction, and looked at tide charts. All of that is useful—until the horn sounds. Once the race begins, conditions stop being information and start being experience. What matters then is not what [...]
Downwind paddling is often described as a balance problem, but it is more accurately a connection problem. Staying upright matters, but staying connected to what the boat is doing matters more. That connection is built through contact points, especially the feet and legs, which quietly transmit information long before it [...]
Performance in the ocean is not limited by how hard you can push in a moment, but by how long you can continue working without the cost of that effort quietly accumulating beneath you. At the start of a race or a long session, things tend to feel settled. The [...]
