The Metabolic Cost of Two Kayaking Techniques

Abstract

A common technique employed in flatwater kayak and canoe races is "wash riding", in which a paddler positions his/her boat on the wake of a leading boat and, at a strategic moment, drops off the wake to sprint ahead. It was hypothesized that this manoeuver was energy efficient, analogous to drafting in cycling. To study this hypothesis, minute ventilation (VE), heart rate (HR) and oxygen consumption (VO2) were measured in 10 elite male kayak paddlers (age = 25 +/- 6.5 yrs, height = 183.6 +/- 4.4 cm, mass = 83.9 +/- 6.1 kg) during steady-state exercise at a standardized velocity in conditions of "wash riding" (WR) and "non-wash riding" (NWR). The data were collected in field conditions using a portable telemetric metabolic system (Cosmed K2). Statistical analysis of the mean values for VE, VO2 and HR was performed using the Hotelling's T2 statistic and revealed significant (p < 0.05) differences between the WR and NWR trials for all three dependent variables. Mean values for VE (l/min) were WR = 113 +/- 16.5, NWR = 126.3 +/- 15.7; for VO2 (l/min) were WR = 3.22 +/- 0.32, NWR = 3.63 +/- 0.3; and for HR (bpm) were WR = 167 +/- 9.9, NWR = 174 +/- 8.0. It was concluded that wash riding during kayak paddling confers substantial metabolic savings at the speeds tested. This has implications for the design of training programs and competitive strategies for flatwater distance kayak racing.