In this podcast I sit down with Matt Drayer who is part of a small team including Greg Barton, Jesse Lishchuk, and Geoff Pearson who are dedicated to promoting surfski development in the US via the Ocean Racing Committee (ORC) which is part of the competition arm of the American Canoe Association (ACA). Matt and the team have been hard at work over the past year building out a National points based ranking system that allows competitors around the country to submit race results...

In this podcast I check in with Brendan to review how the past 10 weeks of training have gone and what I need to focus on in the final four weeks leading up to the Gorge Downwind Champs. If you missed Podcast Episode 43, I would recommend checking it out, and don't forget you can download the training plan there. But if you're limited on time, you'll still learn a lot from this discussion where we cover: * What a good threshold interval session looks like * Trying to...

In this episode of the Peak Paddle Performance Podcast, I reconnect with Dr Brendan O'Neill creator of the Vaaka Cadence Sensor. In 2019 Brendan graciously put together a 14 week cadence based training plan to prepare an intermediate level paddler for racing the 14 mile Gorge Downwind Champs. COVID disrupted everything, and I never got around to publishing the plan as I originally intended. In 2021 I was planning to be back at the Gorge and so dusted off the plan, and loosely followed...

In this podcast I interview Giant Fish founder Scott Darling. Scott launched the initial Giant Fish collection of paddling shorts, pants, and tops in the summer of 2020. Right at the height of the Covid pandemic. Of course it wasn't planned that way, but despite all the obstacles, the product spoke for itself, and quickly became a go to piece of kit for paddlers in the Pacific Northwest. It has been growing steadily from there. As a long time dealer and huge fan of both Vaikobi...

We're back with our most frequent and popular podcast guest, the infamous Oscar Chalupsky. It's always informative and exciting to catch up with Oscar and this podcast is not exception. If you haven't read Oscar's book, order it now, it is an absolute must read. If you're like me, you won't put it down until it is finished. I've known Oscar for 10 years, but reading this book, I realized there is still a lot I don't know. Oscar has led an action packed life and this book is his...

On October 8th the Great Lakes paddling community suffered on incomprehensible loss when Nick Walton succumbed to hypothermia in a downwind race on Lake Michigan. Nick was a professional canoe racer and over the past couple of years had discovered a love for surfski racing. You can read his full obituary here I was a participant in the race and have spoke with many of the racers since the incident occurred. This podcast is my best attempt to explain what I know from this very...

This podcast was an experimental downwind jam session. The idea was to setup a Zoom call open to any and all paddlers to join and share their stories and experiences around downwind paddling. We got off to a rough start when the initial call was highjacked by hackers, but were able to regroup and have a great session. I was hopeful that we could share video over the Zoom call and narrate the paddling. That sort of worked, but I missed some key optimization settings in Zoom which...

My guest on the podcast today is long time friend and paddler Rob Hartman. Rob is a husband and father of three girls. He works full time as a software developer, plays the Upright Bass as an accomplished jazz musician, and has long been one of the top masters paddlers in the US. In recent years Rob has competed primarily East of the Mississippi, where he is a top contender in any race he enters. His most recent racing efforts were focused on the Chattajack where he narrowly missed...

My guest on this podcast is Matt Murphy. Matt is a Naval Architect and Ocean Engineer by trade, who grew up in and on the waters of Northeastern Canada. After school, Matt made his way to Houston, Texas where he currently lives with his wife and four kids. Matt has a very diverse paddling background spanning both racing and multi-week adventures. In this podcast we cover much of Matt's paddling background and the paddling scene in Houston and across Texas, but most importantly we...

In this podcast episode I had a chance to connect with Rod and Barry of ThePaddleChannel. Rod and Barry have progressed from SUP to OC to SURFSKI and their YouTube channel documents, in full transparency, the trials and tribulations of their journey along the way. They are both super passionate about paddling and more so about downwind. Their videos bring a great perspective that should resonate with both new paddlers and those transitioning across paddling disciplines. Many...

In this podcast I sit down with one of the many dear friends I've met through Surfski Paddling. Greg Greene and I first crossed paths when we battled it out in my first surski race ever in Duluth, Minnesota. Although 20 years my senior Greg managed to take me at the line and despite that first encounter we've been great friends ever since. I wanted to bring Greg onto the podcast because he exemplifies what the surfski journey is all about. Starting the sport in his late 40s and in...

In this podcast, the tables are turned and I'm in the hot seat as Buzz Burrell (a long time endurance sports athlete and entrepreneur and new surfski addict) interviews me. We cover a wide range of topics from paddling the Great Lakes through the winter months, to trying to make a surfski business viable in a small market with a short season. Some of the highlights of our conversation include: * Paddling conditions on the Great Lakes* Risks with winter paddling and how I try to...

Today's podcast guest may be best known as the younger brother of paddling legend Dawid Mocke, but Jasper Mocke is in every way a legend in his own right. Jasper is an incredibly talented athlete with several notable accomplishments including World Surfski Champion in 2014, World Champion in K2 Marathon 2014, and 3x Perth Doctor Downwind champion. You may also recognize Jasper as the star of many of the best surfski promotional videos Epic Kayaks has produced, whether it be breaking the...

In today's podcast I managed to catch up with Olympic athlete, coach, and co-founder of Paddle California, Michele Eray. I somehow coerced her into sitting still just long enough to record a great podcast session. The title of this episode and Michele's personal mantra says it all, "You regret more in life the things that you didn't do than the things you did". Michele takes her mantra quite serious and I'm certain you'll agree after listening to our conversation. We cover a lot of...

In today's podcast I managed to catch up with Olympic athlete, coach, and co-founder of Paddle California, Michele Eray. I somehow coerced her into sitting still just long enough to record a great podcast session. The title of this episode and Michele's personal mantra says it all, "You regret more in life the things that you didn't do than the things you did". Michele takes her mantra quite serious and I'm certain you'll agree after listening to our conversation. We cover a lot of...

In early December the guys @CarbonologySport shared some vintage footage of the 1983 Port Elizabeth to East London (PE2LE) 4 Day Stage Race. It generated a lot of intrigue on Facebook, and I thought it would be great to sit down with Oscar and have him walk us through what it was like to race surfskis on the open ocean almost 40 years ago. We spend a large portion of the discussion on the PE2LE. But in classic Oscar fashion we also cover a host of other entertaining and educational...

In early December the guys @CarbonologySport shared some vintage footage of the 1983 Port Elizabeth to East London (PE2LE) 4 Day Stage Race. It generated a lot of intrigue on Facebook, and I thought it would be great to sit down with Oscar and have him walk us through what it was like to race surfskis on the open ocean almost 40 years ago. We spend a large portion of the discussion on the PE2LE. But in classic Oscar fashion we also cover a host of other entertaining and educational...

Today’s podcast guest is good friend and fellow Great Lakes paddler Erik Borgnes. Many of you may recognize Erik as the guy who has dominated the Chattajack 32 race for the past several years. He has also contributed several great blog posts to the surfski universe including boat reviews, technique analysis, experiments in dieting, and a treasure trove of information on ERG training, which is our focus topic in this podcast discussion. It is always a great pleasure chatting with Erik and I...

Today’s podcast guest is good friend and fellow Great Lakes paddler Erik Borgnes. Many of you may recognize Erik as the guy who has dominated the Chattajack 32 race for the past several years. He has also contributed several great blog posts to the surfski universe including boat reviews, technique analysis, experiments in dieting, and a treasure trove of information on ERG training, which is our focus topic in this podcast discussion. It is always a great pleasure chatting with Erik...

In this podcast episode we chat all things safety in extreme conditions with Rob Mousley.   Rob founded surfski.info based out of Cape Town SA, which is well known as  the de-facto global website for surfski information.   It is probably best known for the forums which provide an excellent global dialogue on all things surfski related.   In addition to the forums there are boat reviews, race reports, and most relevant to our discussion today,  many excellent articles on safety. For the...

In this podcast episode we chat all things safety in extreme conditions with Rob Mousley.   Rob founded surfski.info based out of Cape Town SA, which is well known as  the de-facto global website for surfski information.   It is probably best known for the forums which provide an excellent global dialogue on all things surfski related.   In addition to the forums there are boat reviews, race reports, and most relevant to our discussion today,  many excellent articles on safety. For the...

In today's podcast we connect with Jen Lee to hear the story of how she crossed the Molokai Channel in a SUP, OC1, and Surfski all in one season.   If that isn't impressive enough, she only started surfski paddling two years prior and conquered the channel on a properly big day. Jen is an accomplished water woman, but the message she's passionate about  delivering is that anyone can achieve this with the right attitude, dedication to training, and the right boat (hint - Jen did the Molokai...