When it comes to gliding over the water in paddle-powered craft, the Petaluma River is for more than just recreation, as shown by a number of local athletes making waves at the national and international level.

Among them are a sophomore at Petaluma High School who recently placed fourth in the world in an outrigger racing competition; two other teens who recently competed at the 2025 Olympic Hopes Regatta in Czech Republic; and a sibling duo who brought home a bronze medal as part of Team USA’s sprint kayaking team.

The Petaluma High sophomore, Poppy Nelson-Smith, has been competing in outrigger canoeing for Team USA since 2023 and has competed internationally since 2024. In August, she finished fourth overall in the world for her division at the IVF World Distance Championship in Brazil — a modern-day pinnacle of racing for the outrigger canoe, or va’a, a form of Polynesian watercraft which has been in use for thousands of years.

“It has been incredibly transformative, getting to meet so many new people and learning about so many other cultures,” Nelson-Smith said about competing at the Brazil event.

She added, “I had a definitely challenging off-season and I put so much work into it. Seeing it come to fruition and prove to people around me and myself that I was the type of athlete that I wanted to be, felt so important.”

Nelson-Smith stepped into an outrigger canoe for the first time in 2021 when she participated in a Petaluma Floathouse watercraft camp. Her love for the sport deepened during a spring break in Hawaii the following year.

“I saw people in Kona paddling at sunset. All I could see was their silhouette on the water. It was one of the most beautiful sights I’ve seen, just so perfect,” she said. “As soon as I saw that, I was like, ‘I guess I’ve got to do this now. I need this in my life.’”

She joined a local outrigger club soon after and quickly jumped the ranks. In October 2023, Nelson-Smith took first place in the USA ORCA National Sprint competition in Sacramento and qualified to compete in the next IVF World Sprint competition, which took place in August 2024 in Hawaii. While there she earned a bronze medal alongside her teammates in the six-person 1,000-meter race.

Following her fourth-in-the-world achievement in August, Nelson-Smith went on to earn second place for the U19 division at the USA ORCA National Sprints in Portland in October, which qualifies her to compete in the World Sprint competition in Singapore in August 2026.

“I’ve found this entire experience to have completely changed my life,” Nelson-Smith said. Outrigger canoeing has made her “more observant of the natural world and so much more respectful of community and the planet,” she said — which is perhaps why she helps lead the Zero Waste Committee at the Northern California Outrigger Canoe Association.

“I’ve seen so much good come out of the paddling community toward environmentalism and seeing how everyone treats each other and brings each other together and holds everyone up during hard times,” she said. “It’s brought those values into all facets of my life.”

River Town Racers compete

Like many local paddlers, Zachary and Petri Alva, who grew up in Rohnert Park, have been practicing with the River Town Racers kayaking club for years — in their case for about a decade.

In August their work paid off, when the brothers earned bronze medals — their first at the international level — in the four-person 1000-meter race for kayaking at the Pan American Championships in Asuncion, Paraguay.

“It’s incredible,” Zachary said about competing and winning alongside his younger brother. “To be able to go overseas and race with him in a team boat for the United States was really special.”

On a fundraiser page created to help the duo travel to their competitions, Petri stated, “I got to share this medal with Zach, which was a priceless experience.” Petri also earned fourth place in three other events at the Pan American Championships.

Earlier this year, Zachary also competed in a pair of World Cup events in Hungary and Poland.

The Alvas, who first made Team USA in 2019, plan to compete at the 2026 team trials in hopes of earning another spot on Team USA for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

“I’m grateful to have a lot of community support,” Zachary said as he underscored the “amazing” experience of representing Sonoma County around the world. “It’s hard to describe the feeling of standing on the support of all the people back home.”

Another paddler from the River Town Racers club, Sebastian Kauffman, competed at the Olympic Hopes Regatta in Racice, Czech Republic in September, representing Team USA in sprint kayaking.

Kauffman, a junior at Petaluma High School who has paddled with Rivertown Racers for the past five years, finished ninth in both the single-person 1000-meter race and the two-person 500-meter race on the second day of the regatta.

“What an incredible opportunity to compete against top athletes in my age group from around the world,” Kauffman stated on his own online fundraiser page. “It was amazing and inspiring, and very much a wake-up call to the level of training needed to obtain the results I want — qualifying for and competing at the Sprint Kayak World Championships and the Olympics.”

To get there, Kauffman says, he has increased his weekly training load over the past year, often doing double daily workouts, and he “took advantage of every team boat camp offered during school breaks.”

‘Work ethic is the key’

He wasn’t the only local teen competing at the Olympic Hopes Regatta. Zoë Rice, a 15-year-old competitive sprint kayaker from Petaluma, was there for her second consecutive year, competing in the two-person 500-meter and 200-meter events.

Luck can play a good or bad role in competitive sports, as Rice learned after falling ill before her events this year. Even so, she ended up scoring among the top Americans at the regatta, though she fell short of a final qualification. But she said the event was still “a great experience.”

Last year’s races at the American Canoe Association US Sprint National Championships at Lake Lanier Olympic Park in Gainesville, Georgia were a bit more spectacular for Rice, who paddled in nine races and came home with eight gold medals and a silver.

“I believe work ethic is the key to success, practicing before and after school and multiple times daily during the summer,” Rice states on her online fundraiser page — which athletes at that level tend to have in order to keep up with travel expenses. “I have been training nonstop to achieve the goals I have set for myself.”

In 2023, Rice also earned seven gold medals, a silver and a bronze at the American Canoe Association National Championships kayak races in Sarasota, Florida.