Peak Paddle Performance Podcast

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 missed his shot at olympic competition.     Burned out from 10 years of highly stressful competitive sprint kayaking, Zsolt decided it was time for something new and left Hungary to travel and visit family in Chicago.   From there he landed in San Francisco where he was first intrigued by open water paddling watching OC-6 paddlers.   It wasn’t long before he laid eyes on his first surf ski and immediately knew that was something he had to experience.    Zsolt connected with Carter Johnson and the rest is history.   Zsolt eventually moved to Hawaii where he has been coaching paddling, working with Epic Kayaks, and continually being humbled by the power, energy, and complexity of the big ocean.   In this episode Zsolt and I go deep on a wide range of topics including the following:    

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.   Never one to rest on his laurels, Greg came back 4 years later and took another Bronze in Barcelona at his final olympics in 1992   I’ve had the fortune of spending time with Greg on multiple occassions and even paddling in a tandem surf ski with him, but never knew all the details of his early beginning and his path to being the fastest paddler in the world.   It is quite an amazing story of focus, dedication, persistence, and humility.   Greg and I cover extensive ground in this 1 hour 40 minute discussion including, but certainly not limited to, the following:

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 compete and win at the world class level.   Dawid is recognized by paddlers around the world as one of the most accomplished open ocean racers of all time, as well as a passionate teacher and entrepreneur.   In addition to winning races all over the world, Dawid runs a surfski school in Cape Town, SA and manages a rapidly growing brand of paddling products he hopes will transcend surfski and become go to products for all paddlers wanting to outfit themselves with proven gear for their next adventure, whatever that might be.   We ran short on time, so we didn’t go super deep in all the areas we could have covered,  but despite that, this is still turned into a very entertaining, inspirational, and information packed 35 minutes with Dawid.   In this short session we cover  

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 now just recently a victory at the Euro Challenge in Spain.   And this is just a highlight, there have been many more podium finishes for Sean over the past few years.

But for all of his success, Sean remains a very humble, simple, and down to earth guy who just loves spreading his passion for paddling

In this episode we cover:

I know we covered a lot more not listed above.   It was really fun to spend the time with Sean.  I still haven’t met him in person, but based on our discussion and everything I’ve heard, Sean is certainly wise beyond his years,  an exceptional coach, and truly humble and grateful guy just thrilled to be spreading his passion for paddling.

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.  All the while,  embracing the fact that many of his competitors are half his age. Oscar realizes more and more that it is all about training and eating smarter to stay competitive in his 50s.

We cover a wide range of topics including but certainly not limited to:

It is always great to catch up with Oscar and this podcast was no exception. It was so much fun. Oscar truly is one of the greatest world renowned ambassadors for the sport of surfski and a huge inspiration to all as he continues to prove what is possible if you just set your mind to it.

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.   Regardless, the journey is what makes paddling so exciting and keeps us constantly searching for more

In this first episode,  its all me as  I try to give a complete background on myself to set the stage for where I’m coming from and what my experiences have been.   It is on one hand an interesting story, and on the other, probably a pretty common theme for many of us.   Some little known facts –  I grew up in Kodiak, Alaska, famous for notoriously rough, cold, and deadly water..  I don’t know of any surfski paddling up there, but I can only imagine some of the raging downwind runs that could be had with the all the right safety gear in hand.   This is probably where my obsession with waves all began!   Here is a link to Season 12 of the Deadliest Catch, a blockbuster Discovery Series show that sparked the obsession with Alaska.   My neighbor growing up on Kodiak owned the Cornelia Marie which has been one of the main boats featured on the series.  

That’s probably enough to keep you occupied for now… lots more to come, so make sure you subscribe to the Podcast and stay tuned, it’s going to be an exciting season for sure.