Latest News
On Training: Attention and Its Limits
The paddler to your right has been pushing the pace for the last few minutes, and you've been tracking them. Watching their rhythm, watching the gap, watching whether they're going to open it further. Somewhere to your left, a run has been developing for the last few seconds. It would have [...]
On Training: Seeing the Water
The first time something catches your eye before you understand what it means, you almost dismiss it. A change in texture fifty meters ahead, a slight darkening of the surface, the way another paddler two boats over suddenly lifts their pace before you've registered anything worth responding to. It registers briefly [...]
National Series Notebook: A Loaded July
Patrick Dolan flew 5,000 miles from Hawaii to Massachusetts and won the 2026 USA COR National Championships on a grueling open water course against a stacked field of athletes. Five days later, Austin Kieffer won the showcase race at the Gorge Downwind Championships paddlesports festival in the biggest conditions the event [...]
On Training: Physical Integration
The race was two-thirds over and the aerobic system was still running cleanly. Breathing had stayed in control, the stroke hadn't collapsed, and the pace was within the range that should have been sustainable. But something had shifted in the last thirty minutes. A shoulder carrying something separate from the general [...]
On Downwinding: Leveraging Energy
The difference between flatwater paddling and downwinding isn't subtle. Grinding a flat stretch is the opposite: all work and no rest, every foot of distance earned stroke by stroke with nothing free about it. Catching a wave takes a handful of hard strokes, sometimes just one, and then the boat rides [...]
On Training: Efficiency and Friction
During any long session or race, most of each stroke converts cleanly into forward motion. A small fraction gets diverted into correction, stabilization, and adjustment. Some of that cost comes from outside: the ocean pushes, the boat responds, and effort goes toward holding a line and keeping the hull settled underneath [...]
Surfski Reviews
Looking for an ocean ski? Check out the surfski comparison chart!
Mako 6 Fiberglass Review – by Wesley Echols
The glass Mako 6 comes in at 37 pounds. The weight difference between the glass version and the carbon version is substantial. The glass version, like most other same model skis in different layups, handles similarly but the heavier layups tend to dampen the overall feeling of the ski. So [...]
Nelo 560 Review
FIT The bucket design of the 560M is an ergo design, it's a narrower fit for smaller hips but it's tapered to also accommodate larger hips. HANDLING SPEED Flat water speed was the easiest to compare: The 560M is amazingly faster: I don't feel bored, and it doesn't feel like [...]
Huki S1R Review – by Wesley Echols
Let me begin by saying I have owned three S1R’s over the years in different layups. As the chart indicates it is in the stable class of surfskis. It has excellent initial stability. I have seen experienced sea kayakers demo my S1R’s and feel relative comfortable just sitting in this [...]
The Green Machine: Vajda Hawx Elite Review
A number of years ago Mark McKenzie ,co-owner with Mark Smith(pharmacist by trade), of Elite Ocean Sports, US distributors of Vajda skis and K1's, called me to discuss options for purchasing another ski. As I recall Mark, an ex cyclist, and novice surfski paddler, and veterinarian from South Carolina wanted [...]
Nelo 540L Surf Ski Review
Introduction My history with surf skis dates backs to 2003 and my kayak experience predates that. Over these years I launched this site, sold out my Surfski Basics DVD, started reviewing skis, raced extensively, started a race series, gave many lessons, responded to many paddlers regarding boat choices, was instrumental [...]