Canoe river skills: eddy race

An eddy race is a great way to improve your skills. Not only technically, but certainly also mentally.

 Take a well aligned section of a river or a slalom course that is at a relatively easy water level. The goal is to hit as many eddies on that section. You can define your own rules: ferry is allowed, attainments not, an attained eddy can count double, ... .

The fun comes in when you're racing against other paddlers. Here comes the pressure of "must-make" moves, since if you miss your move, you might miss a couple other eddies and loose the game. By challenging each other, and pushing yourself to win, you will have to try out harder eddies, those that the other racer might not (yet) have seen or not be able to hit.

For those paddlers of equal level, you can time the run. Bringing in timing should result in maximizing stroke efficiency, water usage, timing, ... .

With this exercise, you put yourself under pressure: must make moves, time, ... . All of this in a relative controlled environment (but you have to pick the section of the river carefully!). The knowledge of how to behave when you're under pressure, or just the fact of having  been under such a pressure will result in much more controll the day it really counts.

Yes, of course, it's a bit like slalom paddling, after all, they are also eddy hopping down, on time, as many gates as possible, ... . But for slalom paddling you need poles, for eddy racing you just need a river... .

Oh, one last advice, depending on the river, it might be a good idea to add as a rule: if someone tips over, it's end of game and you go to the rescue. It makes no sense to let someone drift downstream, or his boat, since you want to win the race.