North America’s Largest Weekly Paddlesport Race?

In the tiny waterfront community of Deep Cove near Vancouver, BC Canada, the sport of surf ski racing has taken hold in a big way.  Deep Cove's Tuesday Night Paddle Sport Race which started 11 years ago has transformed from being mostly sea kayaks to now having mostly surf skis.  This weekly event runs for 24 weeks each summer and has formed the training ground for many new ski paddlers in Vancouver area.

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Biggest weekly paddlesport race?

The first race of 2009 just occurred on April 7 with 37 surfs skis and a total 65 kayaks.  Attendance will peak with approximately 130 paddlers when the weather starts to warm up a bit more.  The race format changes each week as we use the many tiny islands in the area as race pylons.  In the summer months, just to keep things interesting we sometimes add, swims, wet starts, runs, capsize and remounts, and kayak swaps.  Participants usually grumble about having to do this but are usually high five-ing at the end.  The chase boat carries a videographer and race footage is shown at the local pub afterwards.  After some checking around on local web-groups we have determined that The Deep Cove Tuesday Night Paddlesport is the largest weekly paddlesport race in North America.

Deep Cove's Tuesday Night Paddlesport Race

Deep Cove Canoe & Kayak has been hosting the event since its inception when only 2-3 skis would make an appearance at the race.  Now the event is sponsored by Epic Kayaks and Deep Cove Outdoors which has been supplying Epic and THINK skis to the local market.  While the Tuesday Night Race (TNR) is the mainstay of the racing scene it is supplemented by many one day events in the area.  Like the Round Bowen Challenge, Howe Sound Downwind Race and the Dan Harris Challenge.  Vancouver is located near the US border and there is a hot-bed of American paddlers in Bellingham, Washington where they have their own Wednesday Night Race.

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US v Canada

A friendly cross border rivalry has been created with many American and Canadian paddlers frequenting races on both sides of the border.  This rivalry will culminate in the THINK Kayak International Challenge.  This race revolves around Deep Cove's Tour de Indian and Bellingham's Dan Harris Challenge.  The Trophy is awarded to the nation's teams with the fastest 10 paddlers.

If you find yourself in Vancouver please check out Deep Cove Canoe & Kayak's Tuesday Night Paddlesport Race.

Bob Putnam

Race Organizer