The stroke catches and the boat runs. There is a feeling to it, a brief firmness in the water that holds long enough for the body to push through, and the boat moves with more economy than it did on the stroke before. Paddlers sometimes describe a boat as "running" [...]
Every local racing community has a structure. You know who the fast paddlers are, roughly how you stack up against them, and what a good day on the water looks like for you. That knowledge shapes your training, your expectations, and your sense of progress over a season. It also [...]
The 18th Sakonnet River Race went off without a hitch with a small group of New England surfski paddlers. Conditions were ideal for the 9.4 mile course. It was not the total grind up to the 1st turn buoy at Black Point as the wind died just a little from [...]
Current is the quiet architect of many races. Unlike wind, it rarely announces itself. There is no sound, no visible force—just the subtle difference between working hard and going nowhere, or moving efficiently with effort that suddenly feels justified. Paddlers who ignore current tend to misinterpret both. Tide charts offer [...]
Around the ninety-minute mark, a bump builds ahead and gets left alone. Not because of anything physical. The opportunity was real. But a sprint that reads as obvious on a twenty-minute run reads differently when the landing beach is still forty minutes away. The conditions haven't changed. The calculation about [...]
