About Endurance Kayaking
About Kayaks

About the Triangle Paddling Racing Club -- The Triangle Paddling Club promotes fitness and fun through paddling. Our roots began with a group of local marathon kayakers that paddled together on the weekends. The club sponsored its first official event, the Triangle Paddling Marathon, in the summer of 2005. We also hosted a series of time trials aimed at improving fitness and technique while building community spirit.

About the Sport of Endurance Kayaking -- Endurance paddling can mean a wide variety of things from general fitness paddling to racing internationally. Here's a short primer on the variety of endurance paddling styles.

Flatwater Marathon and Sprint Racing - The Triangle Paddle Racing Club is primarily focused on this style of racing as it is the international standard for fitness paddling on flat water such as lakes and calm rivers. These events include a range of distances much like track and field. The shortest distances are called sprint events and include 200 meter, 500 meter, and 1000 meter events. These races take place on a course with designated lanes and are a test of pure speed. Longer distance races, which include the marathon, have a mass start and allow athletes to form packs and draft off one another. These races are a test of endurance, paddling skill, and tactical ability.
Surf Ski Racing - A growing discipline in the US, this style of racing has been popular in South Africa, Austrailia, and New Zealand for many years. A surf ski is a type of sit-on-top kayak that is long and narrow. It is built for speed and just stable enough to handle the rough waters of an ocean crossing. These races often include one or more trips through the "breakers" and lots of challenging wave riding. In fact, the world's most famous race, the Molokai Challenge, often includes wave riding that can carry a competitor for nearly half a mile.
Sea Kayak Racing - The most approachable type of kayak racing, these races allow athletes to use their everyday sea kayak to race. Categories are often created by separating boats by length. These races often range from 3 to 10 miles and provide competitors an excellent opportunity to test their fitness without spending money on a designated racing kayak.

 

About Kayaks

Kayaks come in a wide variety of types and a few common principles can guide you in your exploration of them.

Width: The narrower a boat is, the faster it will go. But as boats get narrower, they also become tippier.

Length: The longer a boat is, the faster it will go

Length to Width Ratio: Generally, you can compare kayaks by their length to width ratio in order to get a feel for their relative speed; an inch of width has roughly the same effect on speed as about a foot of length.

Weight: The lighter the boat, the faster it is. But weight has only a marginal effect when compared to width and length.

K-1: "K-1" stands for one-person kayak. While most of the boats listed below are also technically one-person kayaks, the term K-1 represents the international standard set forth by the International Canoe Federation (ICF). These boats are required to be a maximum of 17 feet long and must meet a weight minimum of either 12 kg (26.4 lbs) for sprint events or 8 kg (17.6 lbs) for marathon events. Because they are narrower than the categories listed below, they are typically the fastest solo kayaks on the water.
K-2: Much like the "K-1," the term "K-2" refers to a two-person kayak and implies that it conforms to the ICF standards for length and weight. When paddled well, these boats can be faster than a K-1.
Surf Ski: Surf skis are kayaks built for ocean racing. They are specially designed to provide enough stability to tackle rough water, while being narrow enough to provide good speed. These boats are also designed so that the boat is entirely sealed and the paddler sits on top of the boat. In the event that the paddler capsizes, the boat can be righted, and the paddler can climb back onto the boat without it filling with water.
Sea Kayak: Sea kayaks are designed to be versatile enough to handle rough offshore paddling and inland touring. Typically, they have enough room to carry some supplies. Like the K-1, they have cockpit that can be sealed with a sprayskirt to keep water out. These boats are typically a good deal more stable than the K-1 due to increased width. As a result, they are also typically a good deal slower.
Recreational Kayak: Recreational kayaks as basically a subcategory of sea kayak. These boats are wider and typically shorter than a sea kayak. Width provides stability, and short length provides maneuverability, but at the expense of speed. If you're looking to start kayaking, this may be the most approachable boat on the water.