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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 [...]
On Racing: Finishing Strong
Finishing well has little to do with who is most tired. Everyone is tired. What separates paddlers at the end of a race is not how much they have left, but how clearly they can still act with what remains. The finish is rarely a single effort. It is a sequence [...]
Surfski Reviews
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2020 Surfski Reviews: Part One-Stellar Skis
Introduction On February 2, I kicked off my "on season" training plan for the upcoming year that I look forward to every year. That was delayed three weeks later due to the flu, not the coronavirus. I did get my flu shot but with only 45% efficacy due to a [...]
Stellar SES Review – by Wesley Echols
Disclaimer Unlike my other reviews where I had no formal industry ties; this review is unique in that I am the Northeast Sales Representative for Stellar and based on my experience of paddling and reviewing surfskis have provided Stellar with feedback both during the prototype testing of the larger Stellar [...]
Nelo 550L 2G (WWR) Surf Ski Review
In May 2021, I reviewed the newly designed Nelo 540L 2G and now the 550L 2G in the WWR layup. I have approximately 60 miles in the 550L 2g in various small bay conditions where I live in Portsmouth, RI. I have also raced it on the modified Ride the [...]
Custom Kayaks Synergy Lite – by Mark Ceconi
Surfskis tend to fall into two main camps, 19’ x 19” ‘stable’ skis, tailored for those individuals welcomed to the fold, moving up from fast sea kayaks and the like, and the high performance skis (H.P.S.), measuring in at needlelike 21” x 17” dimensions. The transition (a.k.a.. ‘leap’) from one [...]
Think Legend Review – by Wesley Echols
What sets the Legend apart from the other High Performance Skis(HPS) is its drastically different planing hull design with its hard chines and very flat bottom. I was very curious to how it compared to the other HPS in speed and stability. What struck me immediately was the cockpit fit [...]