Peak Paddle Performance Podcast

In this podcast we catch up with Oscar to get a front row view of the racing at the ICF World Surfski Championships in Hong Kong (check out the link for great live footage)  and the infamous Doctor downwind race in Perth, Australia. This is a relatively short podcast at just over 30 minutes,  but as usual, it is always very informative to catch up with Oscar and get his perspective on th...

2018 Gorge Downwind Champs Registration Opens Nov 1st In today’s podcast we welcome back Carter Johnson,  the affable and infamous creator and director of the Gorge Downwind Champs .   In this casual chat we recap highlights from the 2017 Gorge Festival and discuss lessons learned and improvement plans for the 2018 event. If you’ve been to the Gorge, then you know what its al...

In this podcast I get a chance to chat for the first time with the great American surfski champion Austin Kieffer. In just 5 short years, Austin has gone from paddling a surfski for the first time, to battling it out for podium finishes with the greatest paddlers in the world. He is now a force to be reckoned with and a podium contender in any of the biggest surfski races in the world. In thi...

In today’s podcast we sit down with Dr Brendan O’Neill the Chief Operating Officer of Vaaka Cadence based out of New Zealand.    Brendan grew up in competitive kayaking starting at the age of 15.  He competed at very high levels in the UK during his peak years and then transitioned into coaching.   As a paddler, coach, and Doctor of Sports Medicine, Brendan found his true passi...

In today’s podcast we catch up with Boyan Zlatarev of the Tarifa, Spain Surfski Center.   Boyan recently executed a spoof on Social Media known as the Surfski 600 Project .   The goal was to get the attention of the paddling community and ultimately drive a mindset shift into how we view the capabilities of boats that have traditionally been labeled as  “beginner”...

Today we connect for a second podcast with the red hot Sean Rice. Sean may well be the fastest surfski paddler in the world right now. He started off the year with a win and course record at the Amsterdam Waterland Marathon, then took his first win at Molokai and just recently won the Nelo Summer Challenge. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a win this weekend at the the Canadian Surfski Champs a...

In today’s podcast we have the honor of sitting down with Dr. Kelly Starrett—waterman, coach, physiotherapist, and author of multiple New York Times bestsellers including  Becoming a Supple Leopard and Ready to Run, as well as his most recent book Deskbound: Standing Up to a Sitting World Kelly and his wife Juliet started one of the first ever Cross Fit Gyms (#30 to be exact) in San Fra...

Joining us on the podcast today is Matt Myers.   Husband, father of 2 young boys, co-founder of Broneah Kiteboarding, co-founder of the hugely successful Northern Michigan lifestyle brand M22 and co-founder of the now infamous M22 Challenge . If all that wasn’t enough, Matt is a 5 year Chordoma Cancer survivor , an accomplished kite surfer, motocross racer, mountain biker, and stand up paddle...

Joining us on the podcast today is Pat Langley founder of Vaikobi. Pat left a successful career building a large Sailing technical apparel brand to strike out on his own and address what he saw as a big gap in the paddle sports market. Designing technical apparel for the paddle sports athlete. Pat recognized that most of the major brands were focused on either white water or touring gear and no on...

In this podcast I sit down with Oscar Chalupsky in his home in Porto Portugal on the last night of a three day visit.   The primary focus of the discussion is for Oscar to provide coaching and guidance to prepare me to have the best race possible at the Gorge Downwind Champs in July.    We certainly get into this discussion and Oscar provides some excellent and specific training gui...

Today I sit down with Andre Santos CEO of Nelo Kayaks one of the world largest and leading manufacturers of performance kayaks.   While Nelo is a relatively new brand to the US market,  on the world stage it has been highly regarded for over a decade as the leading innovator and pioneer in building the boats that own the Olympic podium.   In 2016 Nelo boats won over 75% of the sprin...

Today’s podcast guest Kenny Howell might just be the ultimate renaissance paddler. In his 38 years of paddling Kenny has been in virtually every type of kayak in every type of condition. A long time Californian with blue eyes, blond hair, and aura of a man who knows adventure,  his backyard includes the infamous Mavericks break in Half Moon Bay, so suffice it to say, Kenny has seen seen...

Today we catch up with the legendary Oscar Chalupsky, just a week after he scared the world with a FB post of him in a hospital bed surrounded by nurses and doctors. In our discussion today, Oscar gives us the blow by blow detail leading up to his episode of Arterial Fibrillation. While the incident was not life threatening it was a serious wake up call that has forced Oscar to considerably cut ba...

Today’s podcast guest is the always affable, ever insightful, and fun loving Carter Johnson. Carter is now best known as the founder and organizer of the Gorge Downwind Paddle Festival in Hood River, OR. After just two year this festival has established itself as the biggest SUP, Outrigger, and SURFSKI event in the US and is drawing a significant international crowd. 2017 is already 2/3 sold out a...

Today’s guest, Zsolt Szadovszki started paddling at the young age of 7 years old in Budapest Hungary, in the heart  of a country that takes it’s paddling very serious.   Zsolt was a semi-pro at the age of 14 and continued accelerating up the ranks to the national team at age 17.   Unfortunately the team he had to beat to make it to the olympics was the best in the world and he just...

In today’s episode I sit down with the ever humble, focused, and driven Greg Barton, founder of Epic Kayaks (originally Epic Paddles)  and the most decorated US paddler in history.   Greg won Bronze in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics then  broke a 52 year drought for the US when he won back to back gold medals in the 1000 meter K1 and 1000 meter K2 disciplines in the 88 Seoul Olympics...

Follow your passion and it will lead you to your purpose In this episode of Peak Paddle Performance we catch up with Dawid Mocke in Hood River just before he heads out to race the Gorge Downwind Championships.   This interview comes right  on the heels of a victory at the Canadian Surfski Championship where Dawid proved that despite having extensive life commitments, he still can still c...

Humility Makes the Ultimate Student, which in Turn Makes the Ultimate Coach Today’s podcast guest is Boyan Zlatarev from Tarifa.   One of the conditions for getting Boyan to come on the show was that I not embarrass him with flattery.   So with that, I will just say this…   Boyan’s  humility makes him the ultimate student.  He  approaches everything he does with an op...

Denny Paull – Stronger than ever in his early 50s My guest on Episode 004 is Denny Paull.   Denny is a good friend and northern Michigan endurance sports legend.  In addition to being a devoted father, husband, and veterinarian, he is one of the most impressive masters class athletes I know.   Now in his early 50s Denny continues to dominate  xc ski, multi-sport, and padd...

In this episode we go deep with with world champion and surfski ambassador extraordinaire Sean Rice AKA Sean the Prawn For the past several years Sean has been owning the podium in all the biggest surfski races around the world with 3 consecutive wins at the US surfski championships, back to back wins at the Canadian surfski champs, an ICF World title in 2013, podium finishes at Molokai,  and...

In this Podcast, I interview Olympian and 12x Molokai World Champion Oscar Chalupsky.  Oscar is largely considered the greatest downwind paddler of all time. He has been competing at a world class level for 40 years and shows absolutely no signs of slowing down.   In fact, Oscar is now chasing monster waves, the 24 hour Ocean distance World Record, and a 13th Molokai victory.  ...

Welcome to the latest adventure at TC SURFSKI.   I’ve decided to launch a Podcast series centered around achieving Peak Paddle Performance.   I know many of us are on a constant journey to eek out that next bump in paddle performance,  whether it be catching more runs, improving your flat water time trial speeds,  or just getting across the line in front of your nemesis.  ...