PPP Episode 29: The Early Days of Surfski Racing with Oscar Chalupsky

Peak Paddle Performance Podcast

In early December the guys @CarbonologySport shared some vintage footage of the 1983 Port Elizabeth to East London (PE2LE) 4 Day Stage Race. It generated a lot of intrigue on Facebook, and I thought it would be great to sit down with Oscar and have him walk us through what it was like to race surfskis on the open ocean almost 40 years ago. We spend a large portion of the discussion on the PE2LE. But in classic Oscar fashion we also cover a host of other entertaining and educational topics including but not limited to:

• Oscar’s first couple of times racing the PE2EL as a teenager
• Surfski designs and construction in the early 80s
• Paddle design, length, and feather in the early 80s
• Gauging effort before the days of GPS and HR Monitors
• Paddling the open ocean with no leashes, PFDs, or sunscreen
• Nutrition and hydration strategies before the days of gu, energy bars, and hydration bladders
• What has evolved for the better and what has proven the test of time

Here is a link to the book Waterlogged by Tim Noakes which Oscar references and in which he was one of the first athletes tested that led to Noakes ground breaking and controversial discovery that the conventional wisdom on hydration during sport was wrong.