Paddlecast

2024 brought some of the highest highs and lowest lows for Britain’s international sprint kayak racing programme. The high: it was Team GB’s most successful Paralympics ever with a record 8 medals. The low: for the first time ever, not a single GB athlete qualified to race canoe sprint at the Paris Olympics.So in January 2025, Paddle UK brought on Ekaitz Saies. Ekaitz raced internationally for Spain for 15 years, won world titles in 2009 and 2011, earned a PhD in Sport Psychology, and coached Spanish Olympic athletes to unprecedented success before moving to the UK. In August, he officially stepped into his new role as Paddle UK Performance Director for Paracanoe and Canoe Sprint. In other words: he’s the person in charge of making sure GB is well represented in Los Angeles in 2028.There’s a lot of pressure on Ekaitz to turn things around for non-para sprint in the UK, but with his background in sport psychology and culture-first approach to performance, he seems well-equipped to rise to the challenge. When he first started at Paddle UK, the cultural differences (paddling culture – going from paella to beans on toast is a whole other thing) were the first thing that stood out.“One of the first things was to try and create a better connection between the world class programme and the community… I didn’t feel there was a healthy environment to really strive for excellence.” Ekaitz delves into differences in everything from how the calendar is managed (how many people are involved, having different committees for different disciplines), to the typical length of races, how many people are usually in a training group, professionalisation of coaching, and why the best paddlers in the world change their technique when the go from sprint to marathon and vice versa.What can fans expect from Team GB in 2026? Keep your eyes on that women’s K4, because Ekaitz thinks they have that magical chemistry and more potential than GB has ever had on the women’s side. But 2026 will also bring new challenges, and not just for Team GB. The Olympic qualification system for LA is changing to be based on the ICF’s World Rankings. It means that World Cups have suddenly just become much more important, and there’s a third World Cup this year in Canada. The team is moving to a periodised approach with multiple peaks, and will feel more pressure to perform earlier in the season. For some less well-funded teams or teams with longer flights needed to travel to Europe/Canada, the higher costs might also mean bringing a smaller squad of only the top athletes. The level of competition at the World Cups will be higher, but participation rates may be lower.To hear more from Ekaitz, you can follow him on Instagram at @ekaitzsaies, and order his new book The Champions Mindset from foxperformance.co.uk. Check out The Paddle Games at https://www.instagram.com/paddle_games.#olympics #canoesprint #teamgb #performancepaddling https://foxperformance.co.uk/product/the-champions-mindset-book 00:23 Introduction of Ekaitz02:01 What is the Performance Director role?03:40 Paddling culture differences moving from Spain to the UK24:57 GB potential, success & achieving stretch goals in 202529:27 2026 goals & new challenges with the Olympic qualification system36:08 100% Physical, 100% Mental: The role of sport psychology in winning45:20 The Champions Mindset49:09 The Paddle Games56:08 Billy & Betsy debrief on the conversation with Ekaitz

Nadia & Nico Schenk are traveling all the way around the coast of Australia in their motorhome, and just to make a little more interesting, Nico is paddling/running/riding the entire way. Yes, all 16,000km of it (that's 10,000 miles...). Follow @australia.epic.lap on Instagram for more

Jim Terrell is a four-time Olympian and the founder of Quickblade Paddles. We had a great chat about everything from building canoes to competing in the Olympics, the birth of QB and working with guys like Dave Kalama and Laird Hamilton in the earliest days of the sport. We were also joined by Jimmy's good friend and one of the original SoCal paddlers, Dane DeBoer, to chat about the first-ever Battle of the Paddle. This is a marathon episode, hope you enjoy!

Andrey Kraytor is an Olympic athlete who competed in sprint canoe at the 2016 Games and now coaches the Chinese national team. He's also a total bad-ass on a SUP, almost winning the gold medal against Connor Baxter at the ICF Worlds last year. We had a great chat about the realities of becoming an Olympic athlete (the good, the bad and the ugly) plus the cross-over between canoeing and stand up paddling. Follow @kraytor_andrey on Insta for more

Dave Kalama talks foiling, philosophy and the zen of the ocean. It's always a pleasure to catch up with the innovative, insightful and very entertaining master of the sea. Follow @davekalama on Insta

Tamas (or just "Tommy") Buday Jr. is a three-time Olympian from Canada via Hungary. We had a great chat today about the Olympics, canoe racing and his first memories of pretending to paddle in the bathtub ### If you're enjoying these "quarantine editions" of Paddlecast then I invite you to join 'Club SUP Racer' on Patreon, which supports the creative work I do including these daily podcasts. There are a few members-only benefits including 24-hour early access to every podcast. Go to http://supracer.com/club to join

MacRae Wylde joins me from Hood River, Oregon to chat about paddling, foiling, teaching his daughter Fiona how to windsurf, the legacy of the late/great Steve Gates, and the epic playground that is the Columbia River Gorge. MacRae isn't just a good paddler, he's a great sculptor -- check out his latest work on insta @macraewylde

Ben Tardrew is the chief designer at ONE Ocean Sports and the man responsible for the magic "rocket ship" race board. He's also a gun paddler in his own right and spends a lot of time riding and innovating foils. Follow @oneoceansports and @bentardrew80 on Insta

I caught up with my good friend Nicola “Nico” Masci from Italy to chat about living in isolation, craving the ocean and a renewed appreciation of paddling. We also reminisce about the rollercoaster of emotion that is the SUP11 City Tour — Nico joined me in Holland last year where we both tried out the new “rocket ship” race board from ONE. Follow @nicolamasci and @onesupitaly on Insta...

Fernando Stalla is a master of the ocean who has competed at the highest level in SUP racing and surfing for years, and who is now enjoying his isolation days spearfishing and living the Tahitian life with his wife and daughter. It was great to catch up with an old friend and talk about travel, children and the desire to have more fun on the water // follow @fernandostalla for a glimpse of the island life 🏝️ 

Vinnicius "Vinni" Martins joins us from Búzios to chat travel, Team Brazil and his lifelong love of the ocean (...and gardening). Vinni is one of the hardest-working and most-positive paddlers you'll ever meet. His energy is contagious. He's also a damn fine athlete, having won an ISA gold and Pan-Am silver medal in season 2019. Go follow Vinni on Instagram (@vinmartins) to keep up with his adventures...

Two of Europe's finest paddlers (and two of its finest people), Susak and Paolo, join us from their island isolation to chat racing vs relationships, running an ultra and looking forward to the day we can all meet up on the water again

I caught up with Daniel Hasulyo to chat about the allure of the 11 Cities, SUP11x, competing against his brother and being "stuck" in isolation paradise. Daniel and his brother Bruno are two of the finest athletes in paddling, and it's always a pleasure to hear their thoughts on the sport and life in general.

I was joined in the studio by local legend Bob Margetts, a paddling fanatic and all-round inspirational guy.  It was a pleasure to chat with Bob about how paddling has changed his life and share his enthusiasm for the ocean.

My guest today is a great paddler and an all-round great guy, and he's someone I have a great deal of respect for. Kenny Kaneko is Japan's long-time number one, but he's also a fantastic ambassador for paddling in general. We chatted about his love of Molokai, outrigger and his original plan to become a pro football player. Kenny also shared his thoughts on the power of paddling, the future of the sport and life as a family man in the quarantine era. Follow @kenny_kaneko on Instagram...

"King of the Ultras" Bart de Zwart joins us from Maui to preview tomorrow's Midnight Sun watch party and chat about the raw attraction of paddling the Yukon River. Join us tomorrow for a special screening of our Yukon River Quest documentary with bonus commentary from Bart and I. We'll be live-streaming "Chased by the Midnight Sun" on the SUP Racer Facebook page and adding our comments/stories as we all watch it together (go to supracer.com for global start times or to watch the replay)

Casper Steinfath joins us from his isolated hometown of Klitmøller, Denmark (aka Cold Hawaii) to chat about hitting pause, crossing oceans and the excitement of marble racing. We also discuss Viking’s new gardening live show that’ll be hitting your screens soon 😜 // Oh and make sure you go to RedBull.tv to watch his epic film “Skagerrak” about paddling from Denmark to Norway...

Seychelle is a Paddle Monster coach, the reigning APP world champion and current world number two on the SUP Racer World Rankings. She's also won the famous SUP11 City Tour three times, including a very emotional come-from-behind victory in 2018, which we chat about on today's episode. The Floridian has been more active most during this coronavirus downtime -- we joked that she's busier than ever now that she's out of a job for several months. Sign up for Seychelle's coaching program on paddlemonster.com, follow @seychellesup on Instagram and tune in to the Paddle Monster Facebook page for their daily live shows.

Master coach Larry Cain talks quarantine, training and the "zen" of cold-water paddling. We also watch some classic footage from Larry's gold medal-winning canoe race at the '84 Olympics. Larry is the co-founder and head coach of Paddle Monster -- join today on paddlemonster.com if you want to step up your paddle game, and follow the Paddle Monster Facebook page for free daily live shows ✌️

Fiona Wylde joins us from Hood River, Oregon, to chat downtime, downwinding and living the dream. Are you enjoying the show? The SUP Racer podcast is now a DAILY SHOW -- I'll be doing a new episode of Paddlecast every single day for as long as we're all stuck indoors. That's my commitment to you and my way of giving back to the SUP community ✌️