How Much Easier Does Drafting Make Your SUP Race?

Those of you who have done distance races and drafted have an appreciation for its value. It makes things easier and can enable you to cover a certain distance faster than you otherwise might. However, it’s sometimes a tough sale trying to convince standup paddlers to search out a draft train and look to ride along with someone else doing the work. There often seems to be a reluctance to draft on SUPs, whether it’s due to a lack of practice and skill or the fear of helping others more than you’ll help yourself. 

Draft trains can be squirrelly, with people not really comfortable in them making moves and causing disruption for no apparent reason.  If the leader lacks steering skills, you can end up doing more steering than you’d like and some people who may lack board skills find that hard. And, if you just haven’t had a lot of experience drafting, doing it in a race can be intimidating and even a little overwhelming, especially when things get hectic.

In this post, the benefits of drafting on a SUP are irrefutable—we can see the data. 

If you have the skills to draft effectively, it is far easier than going it on your own.  If you’re someone who has good drafting skills but just isn’t convinced of its value, my hope is this post will make you reconsider and encourage you to draft more in your upcoming races.  If you’re someone who lacks experience drafting and therefore strong drafting skills, my hope is this post will convince you that drafting is something you should practice and get better at.  It’s something that can lead to real improvements in performance once you’ve developed those skills. 

So, with out any more preamble, let’s take a look at some data. 

Heart rate data – drafting vs. not drafting in a SUP Race

Figure 1 and figure 2 represent HR data for Chattajack champion and record holder, Tim Oliver, in the 2021 and 2023 races respectively.

In 2021, Tim raced with a partner he could draft with. If we look at his HR, we see he went hard off the start for about 50 minutes, with a HR in the 150 to 160 bpm range.  At this point he was all alone. Then we see a big drop where he waits for John Batson to catch up. Thereafter, they work together, taking turns at 10-minute leads. 

We can see that drafting initially allowed Tim to travel with an HR well below 140 bpm when on the wash.  It’s not until about 3 hours into the race that his HR climbs consistently to 140 bpm or higher when drafting. When leading, we can see that Tim’s HR is consistently around 160 bpm. Drafting allowed him to economize by 20 bpm or more for 10 minutes at a time on ten separate occasions! This totaled 100 minutes of a course record time of 4:31:15.

Contrast 2021 with 2023.  Remember, we’re looking at HR data for the same athlete on the same course. We see that over the first 50 minutes or so of his 2023 effort the shape of his HR curve is almost identical to that in 2021. HR starts above 160 bpm and then settles on a similar pattern.  However, when we look more closely, we notice that the scale of the two curves is different.  While in 2021 his HR approaches 145 to 150 bpm during most of the first 50 minutes, in 2023 it is actually largely over 160 bpm during that time.

However, the real difference between 2021 and 2023 occurs after approximately 55 minutes.  In 2021, this is where he starts to draft as described above.  In contrast, in 2023, he’s looked around, realized there’s nobody in sight to draft with, or wait for to ultimately draft with, and has decided to go it alone for the entire remainder of the race.  What’s interesting is the comparison between the two curves from this point forward.

In 2023 we can see his HR averages around 160 bpm for the entire rest of the race, which he completed in 4:59:34.  Essentially, he’s spending 90% or more of this race with a HR at or above 160 bpm, simply because he doesn’t have the opportunity to rest on wash.  In contrast, in 2021 he only spent 63% of 4:31 at or above 160 bpm.  In the remaining 37% of the race he traveled along with a HR close to and often below 140 bpm while drafting.

The difference in work rate between these two race efforts is significant.  Clearly, the drafting effort was easier.  Now, Tim is a fast paddler and skilled on the wash.  However, anyone drafting with paddlers who are their peers (approximately the same speed as they are), should be able to experience the same benefit. 

But what about the SUP speed?

Although Tim went considerably faster in his drafting year, we can’t contribute that entirely to the fact that he drafted.  Currents were running at record levels in 2021 and course records were set in almost every category.  While we can compare Tim’s work rate from one year to the next with a high degree of accuracy, there are too many factors in play that prevent us from accurately comparing speed.

That said, it’s pretty easy to make a case that drafting can help you cover the course more quickly.

What does it all mean to you as a standup paddleboard racer?

Anything that makes completing a 50 km race easier is going to be happily welcomed by most paddlers.  But the very fact that drafting allows you (and your drafting partner or partners) to “rest” on the wash should result in you all covering the race distance more quickly.

If you’re able to rest for 10 minutes on the wash to the degree that Tim was in 2021, you should have the capability to go a little harder (and thus faster) in your next 10-minute lead.  Now, consider what happens if you are working with not just one, but two, other paddlers.  In this case, in every 30 minutes you’re resting for 20 minutes.  You’re even fresher when you take the lead, allowing you to go even harder and faster while pulling the train.  Assuming the others in the train are close to the same speed as you, they’ll be resting when riding and able to pull harder in their leads as well.  With everyone pulling harder while leading, the train is moving along faster all the time than any of the individual paddlers would be able to move alone.

I’ve raced Chattajack six times, winning five of them.  In every race I worked with at least one other paddler for most of the race, and usually worked with two others.  I can’t even imagine trying to do it alone.  I intentionally tried to make our draft trains as cooperative as possible, so they worked for the other paddlers as well as they were working for me.  This helped us eat up miles more quickly and made all of us feel a lot better at the end where we decided the results in the last few kilometers. 

I firmly believe if there are paddlers around you on the race course, traveling along at a speed similar to yours, it is crazy not to work with them.  As such, I think learning to draft is an essential skill for a race like Chattajack or any other distance race.  I understand that not everyone is fortunate enough to have training partners or people to practice drafting with.  However, if you do, I strongly recommend you build drafting practice into your preparation so you can take full advantage of this vitally important skill.

—Larry 

Check out our new course on Drafting for Paid Members available to Basic Members on October 1, 2024.

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