Surfskis in New England in late 1990’s-early 2000

As many of you know, I have been reviewing surfskis for over a decade and paddling skis since 2003, and sea kayaks since 1994. I was an ACA certified (coastal waters) and BCU certified (Level 3 with Level 4 training). The training certifications from sea kayaking heavily influenced my approach to my personal surfski training/safety and how I teach paddling surfskis in New England conditions. 

With the exception of Mike Tracy and Ed Duggan in Beverly, Massachusetts, Joe Glickman, and Ed Joy in New York, virtually no one knew what surf skis were in New England in the late 1990’s. Then in 2003, Mike McNulty, then of Beverly, entered the Snow Row race in Hull, Massachusetts in his beautiful white and green Huki S1X. Many of us at the race were captivated by his surf ski and tried it after the race. The following months, many of us kayak racers, migrated from sea kayaks, and the Westside Racing kayaks, to surf skis. Over the next couple of years, surf ski paddlers began to dominate the sea kayak races and mixed races including the rowing shells to the point the sea kayakers stopped attending the races altogether and the rowers no longer lay claim to the fastest vessels on the ocean. Change is inevitable.

Tim/Mike/Wesley after 20 mile paddle from Narragansett Boat Club in Providence to Jamestown, RI

Mike Tracy at Nahant Race, Mike as the BEST rough water paddler in New England for many years!

Transitioning to Surfskis 

As I have written many times, my first surfski was a Mako XT I purchased from Ocean Paddle Sports. I paddled that for 3 months before I had the skill set to upgrade to a faster ski, the Huki S1X. Back then there was no adjustable footplate, so you had to order a fixed leg length ski and hoped it fit you. Good luck finding someone that has a 29.5 inseam like mine when I began to cycle through many surfskis trying to find the fastest and most stable surfski for my racing skill level. Remember back then there was not the abundance of surfskis like we have now. The differences between advanced skis and intermediate were enormous. There were so few skis that we did not differentiate the classes of skis. The learning curve on advanced skis long and put off many paddlers. Fortunately, the Huki line up that included the S1R and the S1X provided enough stability and speed to accommodate many paddlers, myself included.

Surfski Basics DVD leads to SurfskiRacing.com 

During these first few years of surfski paddling, I realized there was not a whole lot of information on surfskis at the time so I decided to make a DVD entitled Surfski Basics, an informational video. I enlisted Mark Ceconi of Ocean Paddles Sports East, with sponsorship from Jude of Huki, and then hired a professional videographer to produce it. The next step was how was I going to sell my DVD. So after meeting Chris Chappell of FastPaddler.com and talking to him at the L2L race about my video, he said to my surprise, “Oh, I can help you with that and get it up in a few days”.

Mark Ceconi

Learn Surfski Basics, for Beginners

The Surfski Basics DVD, Wesley Echols & Mark Ceconi

So SurfskiRacing.com was on its way. I sold out of my DVD and along the way realized I had bought all these surf skis, recorded my GPS data religiously, trained hard, raced, and raced some more, that I should post what I thought about each ski. At the time there was little info on skis beyond the small number of manufacturers and distributors. It was a tiny world of surf ski paddling in the Northeast. After I had enough data on each ski, Chris put together a spreadsheet where I ranked all the skis I had bought and reviewed them based on my GPS data, races, time trials, and my opinions of each ski based on a number of categories. This rubbed many folks in the industry the wrong way since no one had published so much data on surf skis and posted it publicly. Many questioned, who is this guy, he is not even an elite paddler, so what does he know? Well as it turns out, I was a pretty good regional paddler(I clocked a 2:49) at the 2011 Blackburn), but more to the point, I had the passion, experience and I believed in building the surf ski community. I also believed in putting the right paddler in the appropriate ski despite the brand. I did not let the naysayers or the bullies stand in my way. I don’t know of anyone else to date that has reviewed publicly and ranked as many surfskis as I have. Now the boats are very close in performance, weights, speed and stability throughout the brands but back when I started reviewing their were vast differences. There are some outliers of course and personal preferences but these days with so few dealers its often hard to buy one without waiting months. The selling model has changed due to cost and shipping.  We are lucky here in the Northeast, Stellar is local and Charles River Canoe and Kayaks has been a great resource for many paddlers including myself. 

Friends along the way

At my site grew in popularity, the surf ski community did as well. I began posting my race summaries without letting my boring writing style get in the way. I also had other paddlers send their race summaries too. They quickly realized that writing a race summary takes a lot more time than most paddlers realize. Like print newspapers of old, I thought a classified section for used skis would be a nice feature. It drew paddlers to the site that were not racers and provided access to used boats. This service was free for a while then I began charging to cover my time, my website cost. Chris was the long time webmaster whose contribution was enormous. Without his help I could not have made the site successful. In the early years websites were all hardcoded and time-consuming. I switched over to another platform with the help of Chris and Leslie as websites begin to be more self-sustaining. This venture began my long time relationship with Chris that has taken us to US Surfski Champs, and many, many training paddles on the Sakonnet River, races, and endless discussions about everything relating to paddling. 

2015, It is over. Chris was my coxswain for the 3rd time. I am exhausted and Chris is pleased! Crash B’s, World Indoor Rowing Champs, Boston.

Chris and Wesley US Surfski Champs

Chris(FastPaddler.com) and Wesley(SurfskiRacing.com after another “Good Blackburn”

In the later years, Greg Lesher volunteered or I asked him if he wanted to post the results of the races which I am thankful he is doing that piece of the site. Most of us did not realize Greg was not only one the fastest paddlers but also smooth and witty with the pen as well. Greg only wished his paddling stroke was as smooth as his writing style. He has made many paddlers laugh out loud once reading his race reports that are often like chapters in a book.

“Once you win silver, you don’t want to contaminate yourself by actually touching bronze” says Greg.

Greg Lesher, Wesley, Jen Echols, Tyler Echols(smiling while just finishing the last leg at 1.38 pace. Indoor Rowing Relay Team!!!

Greg at Blackburn

Wesley, Mary Beth, Greg at Snow Row registration.

Mary Beth getting it done. Greg coaching her up!

As we know, racing successfully requires a lot of training. Surfski racing requires, cardio, strength, technique, ocean skills, and judgement. Motivation is key too. Through out my paddling years, I have spent more time on the water with Tim Dwyer than anyone else. We have raced and paddled all over Narragansett Bay in all conditions from the benign to the terrifying(a squall on Ocean Drive blowing 38 mph at our back with Tim, me and Mike Tracy).  Since I started paddling, I was on the water 3 to 4 days a week all year around up until the last 3 years when I focused on road running and cycling  Rarely would I go more than few days without paddling.  

Tim and I putting on the Sakonnet, Ride the Bull, Double Beaver, Battle the Bay and clinics along with Greg’s help for the results.

Tim and I after 9th place overall of 149 boats, in 2023 Blackburn. One of the most enjoyable times I had in a race.

SurfskiRacing.com Race Series

Another feature of my site was my SurfskiRacing.com Race series. The intent was again to grow the community. I have always been racing, competing, so surfski racing was a natural fit. I had been racing sea kayaks for a number of years but surfski racing is so much more exciting combining fitness both aerobic and strength conditioning, sea state awareness, and rough water skill training.  Applying the right surfski(stability/speed) for the right race at the skill level you are at that point in time, kept racing at the forefront for me. There had already been a NE Race Series, however, after a disagreement with Andrew Banks, on the outcome of my own race, the Sakonnet River Race that was part of that series, I decided to create my own series in 2010. This series was very successful and has been copied up and down the East Coast with different variations. Having hosted this race, I expanded the the races I hosted often with Tim like the Ride the Bull, Narrow River, Plum Island Lighthouse. Tim also hosted Double Beaver, Battle of the Bay. So Rhode Island had been a longstanding stable for New England Racing.  I also piggy backed on the Light House to Light House(L2L) with Gary to have a very successful East Coast Championships that endured a number of years on fantastic 14 mile course. We also had input on the Around the Island(Jamestown) races with Dan G and the Narragansett Boat Club races with the rowers  With a point series calculated on the number of races you completed, rankings were assigned so you could quickly see how you ranked amongst your peers. 

Stellar 

In 2010 I began working for Stellar and launching and selling their surfskis. I always had my full time job as a pharmaceutical rep that allowed me to afford all my boats. When I joined Stellar, I had  already reviewed a number of surfskis. I saw the first Stellar surfski at the Potato Race and the quality was like no other surfski on the market at that time.  For three years after joining Stellar,  I touched virtually every ski sold by Stellar. 

Dave Thomas and Wesley Echols, 2016 Nationals, Northfield, MA

Dave Thomas and I, 2024 Holyoke Race in our Eagles

Garage 2009, V12(1G), Legend, Uno 1G, Evo, Sino(K1), Valley Rapier, Pre Stellar

Garage left side, 2013 S18S,SEL,SES,SES

By 2016 that part of my journey had run its course and I was content for a few years to review skis and race. Then in 2018, I got the bug again, and eased into selling Think skis with my friend Chris Laughlin.  I really enjoyed selling Think boats with Chris. I had also met Daryl, the owner, over the years and really liked him so it was a great partnership. After a few years, it was getting more difficult for Chris to bring in a container of Think skis in part to the Trump tariffs imposed on China adding hundreds of dollars to the cost of skis. I had told Chris once he decided to get out of it, I would too. So in 2020 with no Think skis being brought into the US, I stop selling Think skis. I really enjoyed my friendship with Chris. I first met him at one of the early Blackburns when he worked for Epic. 

Wesley and Chris Laughlin, Essex River Race

Chris and I out for fall paddle 2018.

Chris Laughlin, Wesley, Sean Rice at Paddle the Bay 2018.

Daryl and i go back to 2007 to launch of Think. This taken at 2015 Canadian Surfski Champs

Since then I raced some, posted a few articles, focused on road races, enjoying cycling( I have more bikes than skis now, 3 skis vs 8 bikes) retired from pharmaceutical sales, started my dog training business three years ago, Next Step Dog Training.com. I have trained approximately 40 to 50 dogs in three years. 

Ursus, 130 lbs Akita that I have trained, sat for, walked for over 3 years now.

I also work part time at the local running speciality store owned by my neighbor, Run Newport where we I meet many interesting customers, have learned a lot about running shoes and foot problems. Run Newport has the best selection of running/walking shoes in the Northeast and that includes Marathon Sports stores. We know running shoes! 

 

Future of SurfskiRacing.com

As of today I will be handing the site over the Matt Drayer, an excellent, fast paddler and very well known here in New England. Matt also runs New England Surfski, and is heavily involved with Surfski USA. I will contribute when I get the urge with a race summary here and there since I plan on racing much more this year. Just a few stats and statements that I am very proud of over the years. 

-I helped grow the surfski community which was the goal from the beginning. During this journey I met so many nice paddlers, including many friends. I also met some jerks along the way which come with the territory being so public. 

  • I sold a lot of skis for Stellar, Think and many other brands either directly or indirectly through my reviews and hundreds of emails I got over the years on surfskis. 
  • I posted over 600 post on the site with the other 100 or so coming from Greg Lesher or other contributors. 
  • Reviewed and charted over 60 skis on various editions of the Comparison Chart. 
  • Through my classified section, I helped the community sell their skis leading them often to purchase other new skis.
  • I took well over 10,000 pics according to google photos a few years ago. 
  • I sold over 250 copies of my Surfski Basics DVD which was one of the first produced at the time. Dawid Mocke also produced one too within the same week I did. 
  • For many years I got 2k to 5k monthly views on my site. 
  • I had my fastest season ever in 2011 clocking a 2:49 at the Blackburn which is on of the benchmarks for this race. I completed 17 of 18 Blackburns, one in a double with Tim where we placed 9th overall in 2023. That was my easiest Blackburn and my most enjoyable! 
  • I have been paddling since 1994 and paddling surfskis since 2003. 
  • I learned some valuable lessons along the way being so public in the industry. 
  • I am very thankful to my wife Betsy who I have been married to for 39 years for all her patience and guidance during this journey!