Boundary Waters Paddlesports Coaching & Conditioning

07/30/2026

Date is circled! 🗓😃🛶

**2027 Race Dates**
23rd - 26th June 2027 - there it is everyone!!! Registration will open on November 1 2026.

We’ve got some small changes with registration coming that we’ll explain next week also!
Happy Paddling!

07/30/2026

WHOA! What a response!

After the post about the upcoming dragon boat science series, we have been flooded with requests to include everything from heat protocols to where you should exit your stroke. The series has grown to six... and for now... that's where we need to cap it.

That doesn't mean you should stop sending your questions; it just means that for this round, we have to stop and finish the rest once these six blogs are posted.

So here’s the deal I’m making with you for the next six weeks. Every claim in this series gets a label, and there are only three:

🔵 MEASURED — somebody studied this in a dragon boat, with dragon boat athletes. It’s the most trustworthy material in the series, and there’s less of it than you’d hope.

🟢 TRANSFERRED — measured in rowing, sprint kayak, canoe, outrigger, or naval architecture, and carried across because the underlying mechanism is the same. Strong, but one step removed. I’ll always name the boat it came from so you can judge the transfer yourself.

🟠 COACHING WISDOM — convention. What we do because it works, that nobody has measured in a dragon boat. Most of it is probably right. It’s just unproven, which is a different thing.

Why sort it this way?

Because it changes what you do when something isn’t working. If your boat is slow, start with the measured stuff — those are mechanisms, and mechanisms respond. And when you’re adjusting things in the third bucket, know what you’re doing: you’re running an experiment on your own crew. That’s not a criticism; that’s the nature of coaching. But an experiment you know you’re running is one you can learn from. An experiment you think is a fact just makes you stubborn.

Now — WHAT THIS SERIES IS NOT.......

You will not find race plans here. You will not find start sequences. And you will not find a prescription for the perfect stroke.

That’s deliberate. Ask ten coaches what the perfect stroke looks like, and you’ll get ten defensible answers, because the perfect stroke is the one your whole crew can perform effectively and efficiently together. Timing and synchronized body movement matter more than any one paddler’s technical ideal, and that’s a judgment you make with the crew in front of you — not one I make from South Carolina or Northwestern Ontario.

The drummer appears in this series exactly once, as weight in the balance calculation. The call belongs to you.

What I’m giving you instead is the mechanics underneath whatever stroke you already coach.

Here’s the upcoming six-part series:

Part 1 — A Tale of Two Keels: The Physics Under Your Seat
Part 2 — Reading the Water: Hydrology and Glide
Part 3 — The Paddle: Mechanics, Materials, and How Dragon Boat and Outrigger Blades Differ
Part 4 — The Paddler: Energy, Strength, and What Actually Transfers to Boat Speed
Part 5 — Racing in the Heat: Thermoregulation, Hydration, and the Festival Day
Part 6 — Putting It Together: What We Know, What We’ve Borrowed, and What We Believe

One a week, starting Sunday.

Fair warning on two things. These are long now - your flurry of questions added 5 to 7 more minutes of reading time to each. That means each part is now a twenty- to thirty-minute read, written for coaches and experienced paddlers, but the intent is for all levels to find nuggets.

Every claim is cited so you can go read the paper instead of taking my word for it. And Part 1 contains a correction to something I told you two years ago.

One thing that surprised me writing this: the evidence gets stronger the closer you get to the athlete. The boat chapters borrow nearly everything. The paddler chapter is mostly our own studies.

Looking forward to your feedback each week,
~ Coach

07/28/2026

𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗜𝗡 𝗔𝗨𝗚𝗨𝗦𝗧: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗼𝗻 𝗕𝗼𝗮𝘁 𝗦𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀
This four-part blog series explains the physics beneath your seat: what has been measured, what comes from other sports, and what is based on coaching experience and beliefs.

𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝟭 — 𝗔 𝗧𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗧𝘄𝗼 𝗞𝗲𝗲𝗹𝘀: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗵𝘆𝘀𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝘁
The double keel, the three drags, crew weight, trim and heel, and seat order. Includes a correction to the balancing explanation from my previous blog Balancing Your Boat Front to Back (June 2024).

𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝟮 — 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿: 𝗛𝘆𝗱𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆, 𝗚𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗲, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴
Glide defined properly, which drag dominates at which speed, trim and sinkage and heel, salt versus fresh water, chop safety thresholds, and where weight belongs.

𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝟯 — 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝗱𝗱𝗹𝗲: 𝗠𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗰𝘀, 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗗𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗼𝗻 𝗕𝗼𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗢𝘂𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗕𝗹𝗮𝗱𝗲𝘀 𝗗𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿
What the blade does, catch through exit, why the stroke ends at the hip, the IDBF standard, dragon boat versus outrigger, shafts and grips, sizing, and hand placement.

𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝟰 — 𝗣𝘂𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗜𝘁 𝗧𝗼𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿: 𝗔 𝗖𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵’𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗣𝗮𝗱𝗱𝗹𝗲𝗿’𝘀 𝗚𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲
The balancing protocol, fault-and-fix table, paddle fit, season framework, race-day timeline, go/no-go card, and the paddler’s checklist.

𝗔 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻:
Each part keeps its own reference list so that any single part can be lifted out and published or handed to a crew on its own. All citations are APA 7th edition with live links, verified as resolving at the time of compilation.

𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁, 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗺 "𝗯𝘂𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁𝘀" 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗱:
1) What has been 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗱 in peer-reviewed research
2) What has been 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗱 from a related craft because the underlying mechanism is the same, and
3) What are 𝗰𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗳𝘀 that are commonly used but have never been measured scientifically in a dragon boat.
𝗞𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝗮𝗹!

07/28/2026

🛶 CAPTAINS: assemble your crews!

Dragon boats. OC6. Voyageur canoe. The Rumble doesn’t just allow big boats — we want them on the start line. The 5-mile course is a perfect end-of-season crew challenge, every seat gets lunch and a shirt, and yes — your whole boat races for its own podium.

Boat logistics: the sticking point? Message us, we’ll help you make it work.

Tag your captain. Tag your steers. Tag the paddler who never says "no." 😎

⚓ https://paddleguru.com/races/BlackRiverRumble2026

07/26/2026

Attention athletes, coaches and other ASP of the AIMS community, get ready and make sure to sign up for this webinar!

🔗Session 1: 10:00 CEST – 11:00 CEST
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Zw9Gb7fNQceEPZUTeCJ-kg
🔗Session 2: 16:00 CEST – 17:00 CEST
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_8tBJGEibRweqndrV7QGrrQ

07/24/2026

True story from these waters: at the height of the pirate era, more than 2,000 pirates prowled this coast — Blackbeard, Anne Bonney, Mary Read, Calico Jack. They sailed up the Black River and dyed their sails in its tea-colored water so they could slip up on ships in the dark. 🏴☠️

On October 10, you race the same water. Same tannin-dark river, same giant cypress standing watch, same moss they sailed beneath.

The pirates are gone, but something else moved in. ⚫ 🐙

⚓ Race a legendary waterway: https://paddleguru.com/races/BlackRiverRumble2026

07/23/2026

My current hydration obsession!

Sparkling water with fresh lemon, lime, watermelon, and sometimes strawberry, and a few mint leaves. It feels like a treat, keeps me hydrated, and there's zero sugar.

Also in my rotation right now:
🌿 Herbal iced tea, unsweetened
🍋 Water infused with cucumber and citrus
☕ A black hazelnut coffee in the morning
💪 Electrolyte water after workouts (I love all the new flavors you can get)

Giving up sweet drinks can feel challenging at first because those flavors (and the sugar!) are genuinely habit-forming.

But once you find a replacement you actually enjoy, it makes all the difference.

Especially when your body rewards you with steady energy and less inflammation, helping you stay focused on your training and performance goals.

👉 Follow me for more simple strategies for people looking to balance their performance and nutrition with effective habits.