Name: Paddle Stroke Power
Rating: 5 (2 reviews)
Author: spearers.com.au

Your Garmin Edge was built for cycling. Paddle Stroke Power turns that same Edge — or a Garmin watch — into a paddling computer made for kayak, surfski, canoe and SUP.

See your stroke while you paddle: rate and distance per stroke to pace a piece, impulse and power to feel how hard each pull was, left and right to spot an uneven side, and roll to catch a lean that creeps in as you tire — next to speed, distance and heart rate. When you finish, save the session to Garmin Connect and review the work afterwards.

WHO IT IS FOR

Sea kayak and touring paddlers tracking distance and pace. Surfski and ocean-ski paddlers watching cadence and efficiency. Sprint and marathon kayakers working on consistency and even sides. Canoe and multisport paddlers who want effort and balance in one place. Coaches and self-coached athletes reviewing sessions later.

ON A GARMIN EDGE

Mount the computer in your normal paddling cradle before you press START. Edge is always boat-mounted. GPS, SENSOR and HR show when they are live. Then swipe through a full paddling computer:

• STROKE — your stroke dashboard: rate, speed, distance per stroke, last impulse and last power, plus a live picture of the stroke
• AARON’S PAGE — a compact race glance: heart rate and speed, stroke rate, three-stroke impulse, LEAN, distance and time
• ROLL — how the boat heels through each stroke, with LEAN
• NAV — hero speed with distance, time, rate, distance per stroke, impulse, LEAN, heart rate and clock (always on)
• SUMMARY / SUMMARY2 — session averages after you stop; when left and right locked for most of the piece, side-to-side averages before you save

Use STROKE and ROLL for technique blocks. Use AARON’S PAGE and NAV for race pieces and long legs. Hide pages you do not need in Settings — NAV always stays. If LEFT and RIGHT look swapped after lock, turn on Settings → Reverse Lock.

ON A GARMIN WATCH

Open Settings before START and set Configuration: Mounted on boat or Worn on Wrist. START shows that choice so you catch a mistake early. Wrong Configuration yields the wrong stroke math.

• Mounted on boat — same hull stroke story as Edge: MOUNT, STROKE (impulse, power, LEAN), then TRIP
• Worn on Wrist — WRIST and TRIP for live kayak or canoe stroke rate from Activity Type; no boat impulse or power pages

Activity Type tags Kayaking, Canoeing or SUP for the saved file. On the wrist it also chooses kayak vs canoe stroke math.

WHAT YOU GET AFTERWARDS

Save a kayaking FIT activity to Garmin Connect with stroke rate, distance per stroke, impulse, power and LEAN (boat-mounted sessions). Review trends over weeks — not only one piece on the water.

On Edge, Upload to Spearers (default On) can also send a compact SUMMARY / SUMMARY2 archive to Paddle Stroke Lab. After Save you can Send (whole queue), Keep, Discard, or turn uploads off. Send shows UPLOADING, then UPLOAD SUCCESS with a QR that opens Lab (psl.html?claim=&id=) — or UPLOAD FAILED with Try again / Keep for later — then returns to START. Settings → Lab QR reopens the last successful link.

HOW TO START WELL

Mount the Edge — or a watch in Mounted on boat — before START so the boat orientation is settled. Pair a heart-rate strap if you want HR. Set paddler and boat mass in Settings so effort estimates use your numbers. Day and Night colours follow the device, or force one mode when glare or pre-dawn launches need a fixed look.

Impulse and power are training estimates from the accelerometer, GPS and mass — not a calibrated paddle power meter. Left and right labels come from boat roll once the sides lock; until then treat the pair as a pair. This is not a medical device.

Built by The Spearers — a Brisbane paddling community. AARON’S PAGE layout credit to Aaron M. More detail and phone try-out: https://spearers.com.au/psp/