How do they change paddlers during the race?
In theory it’s simple. A paddler rolls out of the canoe and a fresh paddler waiting in the water, grabs the canoe as it passes, pulls themselves in and takes over paddling. However, it requires many good qualities of strength, timing, swimming ability and a degree of nerve. Having a 40 foot canoe weighing over 1,500lbs being aimed pretty much right at you, requires nerve. You only get one shot at it. The art is to enter the canoe with as minimum disturbance to the canoe’s momentum as possible and start paddling as soon as you can.
