Sam Sutton, our second Sports Performance Innovation speaker, went from growing up near Kaituna River to become a 4 time extreme kayak world champion. We explore Sam’s incredible mindset that has led him to the top of the competitive podium, to death defying expeditions in the world’s most dangerous rivers, to taking his passion and experience to build a kayak business that boasts the most successful kayak on the extreme circuit.

2010, Siberia, The Bashkaus river

The Bashkaus River: 60 kilometres of class five white water in one of the most remote parts of earth. The Bashkaus river was first attempted in 1975 by a team of Russian explorers led by Igor Bazilevski. Tragically, Bazilevski and half of the team drowned by the first major canyon. The following year the survivors returned and erected a memorial in the gorge which was only accessible by river. Now the mystic “Book of Legends” waits in a metal box for all those kayakers who are not too scared to run one of Russia's toughest rapids. Since 1975 a number of kayakers and cata-rafters have attempted the Baskaus, many have succeeded, many have not.

At 22 years old, Sam Sutton, the current reigning extreme kayak world champion, is here in pursuit of the hardest rapids in the world.

Despite the Bashkaus’ dark history of claiming lives, luckily it only meant a life changing experience for Sam. It was also an emotional experience, looking down into a river that has taken the lives of his friends, and where it is not uncommon to come across the dead bodies of kayakers along its banks.

Sam considers this expedition period as the best time of his life. When expedition kayaking, life is in pure clarity. There is no glory, the only goal for the day is to survive. It’s about suffering, pushing yourself to the limit and being wholly focused on the moment with no consideration of the outside world.

From dirtbag to world champion

So who is Sam Sutton? Sam grew up five minutes away from the Kaituna River; throwing cans of spaghetti into geothermal vents just to see what happened, riding BMX bikes into the river. As a kid Sam had lofty, materialistic goals of multiple apartments, his own airline (Super Sam Airways – blue with the superman logo) and even sent a letter to Stephan Tindall telling him to “get ready because Sam Sutton was coming to dominate”.

However one Christmas, his cousins’ boyfriend at the time (“attempting to weasel himself into the family” Sam joked), took Sam for his first kayak. This moment was life-changing.

In everything Sam puts his mind to, his mindset is to dominate and destroy the competition. He watched YouTube videos of top kayakers and copied their moves in the Kaituna river. Kayaking became all-consuming for Sam. He would go on to be the world extreme kayak world champion – four times.

What was really surprising was hearing Sam talk about his approach to competition. Whereas the typical elite athlete may have a training regime, video analysis and time keeping, Sam’s dirtbag/expedition foundation gave him the ability to apply a fight/flight behaviour (If I don’t get this line perfect, death is the consequence). Sam would starve himself from the sport for about a month before jumping right back in a few weeks before competition to build up a hunger for kayaking so he would be in love, obsessed with just the feeling of the sport when the event came around. For Sam, winning world-championships came down to absolutely living and breathing passion for his sport, rather than a methodical training approach.

From dirt bag to innovator

Sam's passion and desire to dominate went from the river to the shed. He transferred that knowledge, and with the passion, built a kayak brand, Waka Kayaks in 2012. This is no easy feat. An extreme kayak needs to be incredibly durable to handle extreme river conditions, but also incredibly light so it’s fast and manoeuvrable. Naturally combining extreme durability and ultimate lightness is a significant design challenge. Sam spent his time learning the skills, understanding, exploring, perfecting, analysing, re-testing. For success and failure. Sam brought his huge knowledge set from the water and his experience in the sport to dominate the kayak building world after learning from his mistakes and testing and testing again to really dial into what will make the athlete faster, more nimble and streamlined. Sam looked at design from hands on experiences, and thought about how to make a better product because the world needed one. He started at the basis of “what don’t I like about this kayak?” and “in what ways am I being restricted by the kayak?”

What happened? He succeeded, he failed, he learnt, then got better. Does this not sound like any business in the innovation sector? But it was Sam the person, the business, the innovation.

The SPI-2019 Sports Performance Innovation Forum explored innovation and sport through discussion and presented the opportunity for increasing knowledge while sharing ideas. What often happens in innovation discussion - regardless of genre - is the presentation of latest tech, devices, clubs, groups and even unproven fads. It is often seen that innovation can only come from the top - the All Black's/Team NZ – but this is so far from true. This is not only the case in sport, but in many business areas, from design, to research, to the SME.

Sam Sutton didn't have the 'HPSNZ' title, but his experiences and knowledge can far exceed that of many athletes that did. Why? Because he was a “dirt bag” with no money, a van that Scooby-Doo and the team would be proud of, but also had the greatest thing; more passion and confidence that nothing could crush. Some athletes have given up for coming 3rd - Sam has had friends die in the sport.

That young dirt bag from Kaituna river defied death to be a 4 x world champion and build a business that boasts the most successful kayak on the extreme circuit.

Kiwis are really good at the 'on the fence' level of enthusiasm, yet we always remember that person who stands out as passionate and confident. An individual or team may know they have the best tech or ability, but without the passion to present it, and the passion to live it, it may remain just an idea.

Huge thanks to Sam for your involvement and support in the Sports Performance Innovation Forum.

Links: Waka Kayaks Sam Sutton