If you’re an irritant, they’ll get rid of you.
WASH RIDING: Riding the wash—surfing the stern or side wave of the boat in front of you— may be the most essential skill in the sport; it’s nearly as important as drafting in a bicycle race. “Finding the sweet spot on a wave can save you an enormous amount of energy and pay huge dividends over the course of a race,” says Heed. Generally, your bow should be sniffing distance—as close as you can get without rear- ending your competitor—behind the canoe in front of you. But, Heed warns, “You have to keep adjusting because the wave lengths change according to the water depth.”
UNEASY ALLIANCES: A marathon is far less a steady grind than a series of sprints linked by periods of recuperation. During these recuper- ative stages, race management is a large part of the game. This means you’ll need to work with your fellow racers. Heed says: “You want to be aggressive without being a pain in the ass. If you’re an irritant they’ll try to get rid of you.” Preferred tactics for getting rid of unwanted ca- noes include sprinting ahead or forcing teams into the bank or a bridge abutment. “If you pull your weight by taking turns in pulling and let-
ting others ride wash, then the stronger team will work with you. It’s a constantly changing and uneasy alliance.”
USING THE WATER: Reading the river means be- ing able to seek out the fastest water and is a skill born of experience. Heading around a tight downstream turn, you’ll find the fastest water on the outside of the turn. Carving a smooth turn is a skill that requires seamless teamwork, which is why bends are another spot where
their own wash as their canoe slows and their stern wave steepens in response to the shallow bottom. Get caught off guard and you can get dropped faster than you can say Mark Twain.
THE END GAME: “Heading into the finish the question comes down to who sprints first and where,” says Heed. “If the other team has a faster sprint, you must try and drop them earlier, say in the shallows or on a corner. If you’re zippier, you should wait until the last minute.”
Get caught of f guard and you’ l l get dropped fas ter than you can say Mark Twain
teams often try to break away. Expect the pace to quicken as you approach a tight turn on an upstream leg. Because you’ll be single file along the bank where the current is most favourable, it’s imperative to keep your bow glued to the stern of the boat ahead of you. Approaching a shallow section, savvy teams inevitably sprint just before the river changes depth so they can “pop” the boat, a skill which allows a team to ride
At the end of the race, the team that stands
highest on the podium is the team that can both suffer greatly and think clearly at the same time.
JOE GLICKMAN is a two-time member of the U.S. Marathon Kayak Team and has competed in scores of pro canoe races. He is the author of The Kayak Companion and To The Top.
C ANOE ROOT S n 45
PHOTOS: IAN MERRINGER
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