Some paddling pros are turning heads by switching things up on their favorite runs, literally. Riding switch—or paddling backwards—got some attention at the 2012 Green Race when Dane Jackson and Pat Keller did the full short boat race looking over their shoulders.
For Jackson, paddling backwards is just another way to get more thrills out of the sport, which is why he’s been hooked since he first tried it in 2011. “Switch can turn your home river into an intense run,” he says, “and it makes every river a new river because you’re seeing it in a way you never have before.”
“Switch has become a hot new trend,” says 2009 World Freestyle Kayak Champion, Nick Troutman. “Paddlers are running extremely hard whitewater switch,” he says, but people were paddling backwards long before its recent spike in publicity. When he was first learning freestyle, Troutman spent a whole summer paddling backwards after hearing that it could improve his moves. He and Jackson did a switch run of the Alseseca after a race last winter and Troutman blogged that it was a “whole new challenge after mastering the lines forwards.”
RIDING SWITCH IS NOT JUST FOR THE PROS
But riding switch isn’t just for people who have mastered class V forwards or are trying to win the Worlds. According to Troutman, changing the direction of paddle strokes can help strengthen shoulder muscles and it’s a great way to increase overall awareness and boat control—a skill that can build towards freestyle tricks with enough practice. Plus, he says, you’ll be glad to have tried it when you end up riding switch accidentally. “I remember years ago having to use an emergency back boof. Trust me, at the bottom of the drop I was glad I had practiced paddling backwards.”
For Jackson, switch kayaking is a lot like C1 creekboating. “It’s tough to convince someone how much fun it really is. It’s unsettling at first, scary, out of control, and you will probably crash quite a bit.” But, he adds, after enough practice anyone can get comfortable riding switch, and will probably have a blast doing it.
Will we see backwards runs creep their way into the competition scene? Probably not, though Jackson thinks the Green Race is the perfect place to add a switch class. He says it’s more likely that the style will stay unofficial and that people will keep looking at him like he’s crazy when he plows past the finish line backwards.
This article first appeared in the Summer/Fall 2013 issue of Rapid Magazine. For more great content, subscribe to Rapid’s print and digital editions here
