The Mind Games Are Real

How much of this sport is really just in our heads? This is probably a question without an actual answer but my answer is "a lot". Sure there is a massive physical component to it as well but without going on and writing a whole essay I'm going to touch on a few aspects of paddling that I see on a regular basis that I think are 90+% in our heads.

The first one is balance. This is one of the biggest hang ups people have in the sport of paddling. Is the ski tippy? Is their balance good? In my opinion for most people neither of these determine if the majority of paddlers are going to fall in and really its all just in their heads.

The way I like to describe what I'm getting at is to draw a small square on the sand, just big enough to fit inside of and tell the paddler to stand in it. They can do it easily, they're not holding onto anything but they're completely stable. But now imagine if that small square of sand were 10m up in the air. Nothing has changed about the square they are actually touching but the person would be wobbling and wanting to hold something. Their balance didn't get any worse but their brain has told them they need to start balancing so they don't fall and as a result their balance has gotten worse.

This is exactly what happens in the ski. As soon as the paddler is worried about falling in they start trying to hold the ski upright and on come the wobbles. Nothing is pushing them and without them in it the ski doesn't fall over, but our brain makes us "balance" which is something we are very bad at doing consciously.

So does it really matter if the ski is tippy or stable, or is it just our perception of it? If you think its tippy then it is but if you think the same ski is stable then it is as well. The best way I have found to cure stability issues is distraction. Filling paddlers minds up with technique is a productive way but sometimes that just doesn't cut it and we move on to questions that they actually have to think about to answer. By taking up that brain power with something else the wobbles always seem to disappear not because they got better at balancing but because they stopped balancing something that didn't need it.

The other mind game I see paddlers play in their heads is when they get in waves or bumps. The default is to try harder and tense up for the speed or excitement. To lift to the occasion like it's a fight with the ocean. But picking this fight always ends up in a loss. The ocean isn't trying to fight you, the bumps your chasing have come from miles away and don't care about you, if anything they are trying to help you.

Downwind is about going with the Ocean not beating it, we are meant to be using runners but how can we use something we are trying to paddle away from or push ourselves off the back of.

Something I always hear from people talking about their downwind that I think proves this is "after about 4 or 5km the bumps got better and I started linking them". I'm sure you've heard it too, or maybe even said it. But what I hear is "after 4 or 5km I got tired so stopped trying so hard and started resting as soon as possible and it worked better". Basically they tired themselves out, stopped fighting and their thoughts changed from fight to rest, as a result they went faster!

Of course this isn't to say some skis aren't more stable than others and you don't have to paddle hard in a downwind. It's just a whole lot of words to say that if you think something is a "big deal" then it is. But, if you don't then it isn't. Everyone that was ever good at anything makes it look like whatever they're doing is easy and they've done it a million times. So even if you haven't paddled that tippier ski before pretend that you have, it will probably be easier.