Mass start
Drafting works but with a mass start your priority should be getting out fast with the lead paddlers to stay in clear water. Further back in the field the interacting wakes will make it very choppy and you will immediately lose speed.
After the field spreads out you will be able to find someone paddling at a similar speed who you can wash hang with.
Agree
It works great. That is while we practice it weekly. With two bows you can almost tow a tired paddler.
But the advice to get in front early is good advice. Then find your group and start working together.
Certain races do not allow drafting and some other racers do not want a draft partner so mind your sportsmanship.
I find it most useful on long touring days. I’m slow for the first couple hours and usually stronger at the end of the day.
The old guys do it
– Last Updated: Jul-25-12 9:02 AM EST –
Im no expert as ive only started racing this year but the old guys do it as much as possible. There is a noticeable boost from wake riding. There are 2 different places to do this. One is directly behind the boat as others have mentioned. The other is the side wake. On the side you should position your boat so that your bow is at or just behind the middle of the boat your riding and about 3-4' to the side. The side wake will want to push you away initially or will suck your boats together if you get too close so thats something to watch for.
You will feel a noticeable boost when you're in the right spot and noticeable drag if you get behind the wake. If you get behind the wake you either need to drop back and accept youve lost the wake or sprint paddle for several strokes to try to get over/in front of it.
The bigger the wake the more the boost so look for a fast boat with big guys in it. Or less race oriented hulls produce bigger wakes too.
In my novice experience this year it is fairly difficult to keep your boat right where you want it. Ive tried to wake ride both solo and tandem. Solo was fairly hard to keep it right where i needed to be. Tandem is easier as the bow paddler can constantly incorporate small draws or pushes into their stroke to keep the bow where it should be. (obviously you need a good stern guy too to keep you straight too)
One thing I did to practice wake riding was I took my solo out on a local lake here in MN popular with water skiers/tubers. Id wait for a boat to go by then try to ride their wake. Its not quite the same feel as a canoe wake but its similar enough to practice with. It helped me gain a feel for riding and I would recommend it to those trying to learn.
THe beginning of races can get hairy with all the side wakes combining. especially if you're in a tippy pro boat. The advice to get ahead early is good. Best to slow it down if you need to than try to catch the lead pack.
As for riding etiquette, at the Paddle derby races here in the twin cities it is the norm to ride as much as possible. If you dont like someone riding your wake go cry about it. If you dont want them getting a free ride, dont paddle in the lead. Hang back and let someone pass you. Otherwise you can try to sprint for 10-15 strokes and try to ditch them. If you can get them off your first wave on to the 2nd wave there is less of a draft to follow so if you're the stronger paddlers you can usually shake your tail. If the boat in front of you does this you immiediately need to pick up the pace to keep with them. I cant blame anyone for drafting off me. Its just the smart thing to do (work smarter not harder). This is one of the skills that makes experienced racers great. Anyone who denies the benefit of wake riding has no idea what they're talking about.
If trimmed right
and in control riding wake if very effective. It takes training and practice,practice,PRACTICE.
You also have to pay attention at level most paddlers
are in capable of when they are gasping for breath.
Only you can decide if it is worth the effort for the advantage gained. With some partners (if in a tandem)
it is ineffective. Jeff and Sam just go for the clean water and are always in the lead group of paddlers. Canoenut rides wake and wins at the nationals…
It works
– Last Updated: Jul-25-12 9:17 AM EST –
To varying degrees, and can be highly dependent on the characteristics of the lead boat. I have drafted (wake riding) and been drafted in voyageur, tandem, and solo canoes.
It is a common practice in some races, but as mentioned, you don't want to do it for very far without sharing unless you want to tick off the lead boat. Especially if you are unfriendly competitors in the same class, or there is competition in dissimilar classes for an overall lead finishing time.
I don't mind during the 90-Miler if a kayak or solo canoe is riding my voyageur or tandem canoe wake. We are in different classes and in no way competing overall. I do mind very much, as did happen on the Yukon 1000, when a kayak hangs on our tail for hundreds of miles and we are in a competition for overall finish time, especially when part of the strategy of such a race is doing homework and making crucial navigation choices that may save dozens of miles (and the trailing boat "lost" their map - but that is a another story).
Some boats make great side waves and stern waves. Get behind one of them and I figure the rider can scale back to 80% of the power needed for that pace. But there are many variables in addition to ethical.
Whoever you decide to hitch a ride from, ask them as a favor (vs cut-throat competition), you need to make your presence known and ask if they mind. Don't tag along the same boat for mile after mile unless you are positive they don't care. Canoe racers often know one another and being friends before hand helps.
You need to find a boat that is going only slightly faster than you would on your own, otherwise it makes no sense to draft. The lead boat needs to be going relatively straight with good steerage control, not wagging it's stern all over the place.
You need to find a boat that is throwing sufficient wake to ride, and you can't always tell until you see them underway. Some tandem and even voyageur canoe designs surprisingly throw very little rideable wake, while others do.
From a good ridable boat, there are side wakes coming off left and right forward areas of the lead forming a broad "V". It is relatively easy to stay on one of these, best position is to have the rider's bow somewhere near or just ahead the lead stern paddler (friendly communication is important).
There is often (but not always) a substantial wave directly astern of the lead. There will be a little short "hump" wave directly behind attached to the lead stem, followed by a deep broad valley wave trough. You want to get in this trough, as you will be effectively "surfing" on the downhill side. Your bow may be only 2 inches away from the lead stern, or you may have a foot or more to play with - it just depends. That little stern hump wave actually can help to hold you from making contact, which you want to positively avoid at all costs. It is more difficult to hold this astern position unless the lead boat stays on a relatively straight track without tail wagging. Some predictable anticipation of when the tail wag is about to occur can help you counter this effect.
Sometimes it is simply more work to hold position behind the lead boat, not because you need a lot of forward power, but because turbulence (or tail wagging) causes you to expend too much energy staying in any advantageous position to be worthwhile.
Once again, be sure you either share the load by taking turns being lead, or that there is direct friendly communication on what you are doing. Do not be a pest, a parasite, or a leech!
Drafting aside, be very careful during a truly mass start if you have no experience with doing so. If boats are very close together at the start, there is a strong tendency to get "sucked together" during a rapid start once underway. Even if you think you have sufficient side to side spacing before the start, you can easily bump gunwales or strike paddles, and try as you might, it can be impossible to draw away from the strong venturi forces tending to knock you together. Many boats have capsized during the frantic confusion and turbulence. The solution is to either keep your distance before the start (not always an option), be very fast and pull out strongly ahead, or drop back behind the mess.
picture
Me shaking my head no while saying yes.
It takes practice and is most effective in high energy races. It isn’t always frowned upon, but you would need to take the lead at points.
In a mass start I can’t imagine how this would work. It seems its always too confusing at first. You don’t know anybody’s pace or intentions in the beginning.
Ryan L.
You should try it at some point
– Last Updated: Jul-25-12 10:09 AM EST –
... even if only to see how difficult it is.
I tried it in the one-and-only-race I've done (hey it was a kayaker so I didn't feel bad). It was hard to maintain and I quit pretty quickly.
Glad I tried it though.
I prefer the clean water
It usually just takes too much effort to stay in the sweet spot of the stern wake or side wake of the lead boat. This is especially true if the lead boat(intentionally or otherwise) is yawing all over and changing course with every “hut”!
both
drafting is awesome, both wake and tail riding.
Lots of good info. Peter Heeds book on Marathon Canoe Racing has a whole section of techniques. Some good youtube videos too.
A good wake rider can reduce stroke rate by 50% in some cases.
Very Good Explanation
That is a very good explanation. In a race last year I was the lead boat and you can definitely feel the difference when someone is riding your stern wake. It actually pushed the back of my boat down and bow up. I was trying to be nice because I figured I would lose the guy after a couple of miles, but six miles later he passed me, we exchanged words and he then proceeded to win the under 12 foot category. He knew what he was doing since he literally sat one foot off my stern.
Now that I am in a larger boat, I don’t think it works as well, but drafting can definitely be done in smaller boats that throw a larger wake.
Cool!
– Last Updated: Jul-25-12 11:49 AM EST –
Thank you for the detailed replies. Looks like I'll need to find someone to practice drafting off of if I want to attempt to use the technique.
The race I'm doing is a "run what you brung" homegrown event with a 3/4 mile reservoir crossing, a half mile portage, and 4.5 miles of narrow class 1/2 that ends in a couple of whitewater play features. I don't expect many, if any, hard core racers there - the event is a river festival, not a canoe marathon.
I'll be in an Argosy, which is the only non-whitewater boat I own. My goal is to get off the line fast enough to avoid getting sucked against other boats or knocked over by less skilled paddlers capsizing, then hopefully have enough strength/skill to catch a ride behind one of the tandem teams who will surely pass me. I doubt I'll be fast enough to draft a race boat if any show up, but I might be able to get behind one of the stronger corporate teams who will be paddling Disco/Explorer/similar plastic boats.
A friend who raced last year said one tandem team showed up with an Olympic sprint boat and blew everyone away on the reservoir crossing, only to wrap/destroy their kevlar rocket in one of the rapids. I'm hoping that most of the faster flatwater participants will have a similar lack of skill in current.
Regardless of how it goes, it should be good fun.
yawing
I’m guessing there will be a fair amount of yawing, even from the faster boats, since this event doesn’t really draw from the race world. So maybe I’ll end up bagging the wake riding and just hope I’m not too far off the back by the time we hit the portage and river sections. I’ve been practicing running with the Argosy on my head, and (at the risk of inviting the river gods to teach me a lesson) I’m pretty darned fast on whitewater :).
Clean water and my own pace . . .
. . . is often what I prefer as well. But drafting for a brief period of time – even 15 seconds – often works really well for catching my breath, getting some water down, and preparing my next surge forward.
Drafting
"…with a 3/4 mile reservoir crossing, a half mile portage, and 4.5 miles of narrow class 1/2 that ends in a couple of whitewater play features."
Humm. I think drafting during the portage would be of more benefit than drafting in moving water :). Perhaps you can find someone who will somehow make carrying the boat the 1/2 mile easier.
Rick
Drafting can be easy with a large canoe
At Raystown there was a midnight paddle and Topher had his giant Clipper loaded up with able mariners. Drafting that craft was a piece of cake. It was like being pulled by a rope.
good one 
Once we’re on the moving water section, I don’t want to be anywhere near other competitors if I can avoid it. It’ll be interesting enough in a hard tracking boat like the Argosy without having to worry about dodging other craft.
yeah, the big boats are best
local guy won his class a few years ago on the Yukon race, actually I think 2 years in a row, and mentioned hooking up behind the OC-6’s in his K1.
Tandem may help a bit if you find some strong big guys. I know my son and I can throw a big wake on flatwater.
drafting
In the Washington Island Race rules, drafting is encouraged. It does make both boats faster, but remember, you are racing.
It is known that geese use drafting when flying in formation and as the lead goose tires, it drops to the back. That tired goose isn’t just dragging, but is pushing to keep the speed up of the formation.
If you use drafting be careful not to touch the other boat. In turns, the following boat will be drawn into the lead boat and you may have to scrub speed and tuck to the inside as the tail of the front boat sweeps the turn. It only takes a little practice to get in sync.
Remember you are racing, if you give up the lead, you have to get back into sync to maintain the speed advantage of both boats. If you don’t get hooked up, the other boat is going to pull away and you won’t get a rest.
When done right, strategy will make the race a cat and mouse event.
The Washinton Island race uses a mass start and drafting doesn’t work well in big water on Lake Michigan. It does work on rivers with flat water.
Drafting big canoes
Paddling stern in a C-4 i have pulled along so many drafters i feel like a AAA tow truck. On the 11 mile run up Long Lake the tired C-1 paddlers that we catch look forward to hanging close to our stern and saving some energy. One young guy has been a regular, and we can judge our speed by how soon after the start we catch him. He will ride our stern till the end of the lake, then swing by the pit stop boat and get a candy bar. Once in a while we get someone on our stern who is not friendly, just looking to gain a minute on their class. A couple well timed 'Huts" can usually make them work too hard to stay on the wake and we can shed them. Or a 30 second burst at Warp 5 will leave them panting and our crew smiling from ear to ear.
We never mind pulling the Baldpaddler in our wake, he always shows up later with beer. One year he paddled with us in a 20’Grumman War Canoe our side wake was so big during the finish line sprint, a Comp Cruiser caught us but could not get over the wake to pass us. The paddled as hard as they could for the quarter mile to the buoys, but never got their bow past our middle. Too much uphill they said.
For practice find a pontoon boat, they don’t usually travel to fast, kick up a great wake, and are usually friendly family folk who enjoy the novelty of having as canoe race them.
Bill
Different in auto racing
Car racers don’t take turns drafting. They take every advantage of their opponent that they can. It’s a race and the overall better racer wins even if they are just better at drafting. At least that is the impression I get.
Maybe drafting is how the tortoise beat the hare, not because the hare was a lazy bum.
Dave