Paroz Paddling the Planet

The World Surfski series has just recently had its first 2 out of 3 North America events. These events consisted of the Canadian Surfski Championships in Squamish, British Columbia and North American Downwind Championship (Gorge Paddling Festival) in Hood River Oregon.  Both of these events are in remarkable locations, the Canadian event has ‘The Chief’, the Chief is a sheer rock face which takes roughly 6-7 hours to climb. The Chief was what most competitors aimed for to help them paddle into the final 2km stretch before the finish line. The Gorge, well the name says it all, you’re are literally paddling down a river in the middle of a rock Gorge. On either sides of the Gorge you have Mount Hood on the Oregon side, and on the wild side (Washington) you have Mount Adams, and both are still snowcapped. For myself unfortunately I won’t be attending the third leg of the North American World Surfski Series events due to the fact I can’t afford it. But from what I’ve heard paddling und...

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while, I’ve had a few busy weekends of racing, then helping a mate out landscaping/tidying up their yard. Currently I am in transit to North America to race at 2 of the World Surfski Series events being the Canadian Surfski Championships and Gorge Paddling festival. For the next few weeks, I’ll be training in Seattle, Washington, hopefully it will be a lot warmer than the Sunshine Coast back home. If you would like to follow my trip on athlete Facebook or Instagram I have linked the sites below, I will be frequently posting pictures, videos and results to these social media sites, please like and follow. Facebook-   https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ryan-Paroz-Athlete/113256568736670?pnref=story   Instagram- https://instagram.com/ryan_paroz/ I often get asked what do I pack in my back pack when go and race, either when I’m racing internationally or just when I do a local race. I’m typically an over packer when it comes to packing my bag, for ...

  What a couple of weeks I've had, preparing for my second Molokai to Oahu channel crossing. This year I arrived a little over a week before the race giving myself some time to recover and get over jet lag. For those who don't know what the Molokai Challenge and World Surfski Championships is, it is a 53km (32 mile) channel crossing from the island of Molokai to the island of Oahu. The race starts on the western side of the island on Kaluakoi Beach and the finish line was at the Maunalua Beach Park, Hawaii Kai.  This year I used an Epic V14 in the ultra layup as I made the step up from Epic's V10L late last year. For the past 20 weeks I have been training hard with Clint Robinson back home on the Sunshine Coast (which is just 1 hour North of Brisbane, Queensland). This year I finished 2nd in my age group of 19-29's and 22nd in Open men Solo surf ski, with a time of 4 hours 17 mins. Which was 12 mins quicker than last years time and  1 position better! ...

This week I interviewed Australian Marathon representative Ben Rake, Ben is a hard worker and does everything he can to be infront of his competition (even pushing them into trees). Ben Currently lives in the Australian Capital of Canberra. He has also just started his own business with one of his mates (friend) called Terra et Mare Fitness, I have attached the link below for you to check it out. If you have any questions for Ben or myself please leave them below. ALSO if there is anyone that you would like me to interview and have questions for them please leave a comment or email me.Thank you very much https://www.facebook.com/Terraetmarefitness What paddling disciplines do you compete in (events, distance)? I compete in marathon kayaking, I’ve recently stepped to 31 Km this year, normally I’m a 25Km kinda person so the step up was a good leap! How Long have you been paddling for? I’ve been paddling full time for the last 5 years, which is paddling terms means th...

With 3 weeks until I leave for Hawaii, my excitement levels are rising as each day draws me closer. This week I am going to give everyone an insight into the Molokai race itself.  Last year was my first year doing the event, the conditions weren’t the greatest but it was better than a glassy (flat) day in the saddle. Slight winds blowing from the Northeast, and the swell pushing from the south, the race itself goes from the Northeast to the Southwest. So the wind was behind and slightly to the right of tail and we were punching straight into the swell.  With a gnarly shorey it was a bit of a challenge to get through, with some fellow athletes jumping into their skis then falling straight out of their skis. With a hoot the race started with two main lead groups that took off, one group had the majority of the elite South African’s and the other had the large amount of the elite Australian contingency. During the race, I was holding a nice competitive line; I decided to have a ...