Paddle Collective

17/10/2026

"The circus is coming to town." 🌊

GLIDE TO SURVIVE. Episode 02: Shaun Rice.

Episode 1 was Pat Eley, one of the young guns. Episode 2 is the other end of the ledger, and arguably the more important one.

Ricey is the big dog of the Downwind Dogs, the crew out of IOP. He leads it, he runs the sessions, and he is there every single time. That matters more than most people realise. Squads do not survive on talent, they survive on somebody turning up in the dark when it is blowing and nobody else can be bothered. That is him. Half the paddlers reading this got better because Ricey kept the session going.

He was racing in South Africa through the 80s and the 90s, back when downwind was still being figured out rather than taught, and he has been part of the WA furniture ever since. He has watched this sport go from a handful of blokes chasing runs to an international circuit that lands on our doorstep every summer.

Three questions, the same three we ask everyone.

North Cott Skins is on 25 November. Knockout format, boards first and then skis, and it is built to be watched as much as paddled. There is a ski up for grabs as the door prize. There is a free clinic running up in the North Cottesloe clubhouse the whole time, so you can duck in at any point and get something out of the day no matter how the racing goes for you. And if you are not racing, come down anyway. That balcony is the best seat on the coast and the bar is open.

Enter at Paddle Collective website

Thanks to Shellabears, Chalupski Australia and Wilson Brewing Company

09/10/2026

Here is the picture to hold onto. A pole vaulter plants the pole and lets it take the load before they go anywhere. A swimmer reaches out and grips the water, then pulls themselves past it. Neither of them starts moving before they have got hold of something. Your catch is exactly that. Grip first, move second.

Your body first. The most common fault is unwinding to get the blade in. You reach, then you start rotating back as the paddle drops, and by the time the blade is buried your body has already spent itself. Stay wound up. Fully rotated, reaching out, and hold it. The arms spear the blade in over a short distance, the top hand presses down to bury it, and then you pause for a split second while it loads. Only then do the legs and the body go through.

Then the paddle. The blade wants to be perpendicular to the boat as it goes in. Open the face even slightly and the blade cuts in toward the hull, runs down the side of the boat, and now you are doing a J stroke and wondering why your shoulders are cooked. A blade that goes in square naturally travels out and away from the boat, which is where the real grip lives

Two drills in the video. Spear, pause, power, so you learn to separate burying the blade from applying force. And touch the far side of the boat with your blade before each stroke, so you find out what fully rotated actually feels like, because it is further than you think.

Now the honest part. You will not fix your catch this weekend. Nobody does. But a stroke is not a thing you learn once, it is a thing you keep correcting, and if you understand why the fault is happening you can chip away at it every single paddle for the next year and come out the other side a different paddler. People who only ever get told what to do plateau. People who understand the why keep improving on their own, for years, without anyone watching them.

That is what this series is for.

09/10/2026

Race day over in Spain. Good luck to all the Aussies! We’ll be watching.

🇦🇺 Defending men’s World Champion Cory Hill and two-time winner Jemma Smith are chasing history at the upcoming ICF Canoe Ocean Racing World Championships.

Read more here: https://brnw.ch/21x6doA

03/10/2026

Most paddlers I watch are doing shoulder presses down the coast, and then wondering why the bloke next to them is
cruising.
Here's the thing I've come back to after over twenty years of coaching. There are only two things we optimise in a
paddle stroke.
Your body. If I asked you to lift the heaviest weight you could, you'd deadlift it: legs, hips, back, the big engines. You
wouldn't shoulder press it. A paddler using legs and rotation is deadlifting. A paddler using arms and shoulders is shoulder pressing. Same person, a fraction of the power, and they blow up at the ten minute mark.
Your paddle. Its job is to grip the water, but grip it efficiently. A flat blade dragged straight back or on the angle grips the water, sure.
A flat rudder turns a boat too. Neither is efficient. Set the blade at the right angle and it holds the water like a wing, and everything your body just did goes into moving you forward.
Body and paddle. Get those two right and you paddle faster. That's the whole series in a sentence.
I'm not going to tell you how to paddle in these videos, I'm going to tell you why. Once you know why, you can fix it
yourself, and that lasts a lot longer than a cue you copy. One video a week, The catch, the
middle, the exit, and rhythm.
Comment STROKE and I'll send you the stroke fault checklist to follow along with. Locals, your first session with us is free with the code firstsessionfree, come and paddle with the crew. www.paddlecollective.com.au
Tag the paddle buddy who needs this.

02/10/2026

There's a brand new ski going home with someone from the North Cott Skins Race, and they don't have to win a single round to get it 🏆

It's the door prize. Every paddler who enters goes in the draw. Fastest on the beach or first one knocked out, same odds.

Now the race itself, because this is not your usual ocean race. Wednesday 25 November at North Cottesloe Beach. Everyone lines up at the buoy out the front of the club and sprints for the shore. The field gets cut, and whoever is still in paddles back out and goes again. Round after round the group shrinks, until there's one paddler left standing.

No hour of grinding away on your own out the back. It's short, sharp sprints, side by side, and the whole thing plays out right under the North Cott balcony. The bar's open, the crowd sees every start and every finish, and they will absolutely let you know about it.

Boards go first from 4:30pm. Skis from 5pm.

Knocked out? That's when the free clinic kicks in. It runs upstairs in the clubhouse right through the race, so jump in whenever you like, then head for the balcony and heckle whoever beat you.

Not a racer? Come down anyway. A drink in the late sun and the best seat in the house for an evening of knockout racing.

Huge thanks to Shellabears, Node Finance and Wilson Brewery for getting behind it. Shellabears have been part of Cottesloe for a hundred years, so it means a lot to have them on the beach with us. Thanks to NCSLSC for hosting us and providing water safety.

Comment SKINS and we'll send you the entry link 🛶 or find it over at our website.

Who are you lining up next to at the buoy? Tag them.

28/09/2026

Calling all adventurous, outdoorsy types 📣 Join as at Hillarys Marina over two sessions 11th and 18th October to start your paddling journey. All welcome, no experience needed. Jump over the to website to book and we'll sort the rest. This is your summer to try something new and find your people 🌊☀️