On Racing: Current, Tide, and Timing
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 [...]
On Downwinding: Decision Scope
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 [...]
On Training: Recovery and Adaptation
The main concept behind "training" of any sort is that damage accumulates when work occurs, and adaptation happens during recovery. There's a well-established process at this point for optimizing our adaptation mechanism to quickly achieve [...]

Nationals: Shifting Context
The first thing you notice at an unfamiliar venue is the water: how it flows, how the wind sets up, how the waves stack, whether there's chop on top of swell or just one or [...]
On Racing: Wind Direction and Strength
Wind strength gets the headlines. Wind direction decides the race. Many paddlers fixate on how hard the wind is blowing, yet struggle to explain from where it is actually affecting them once they are on [...]

NK Rapido Surf Ski Review at 40 miles
Review by Wesley Echols Intro I got my NK Rapido, Carbon Lite layup(Green Tip) at the Run of the Charles Race in Boston, Massachusetts on April 27th, 2026. I had previously paddled the Storm for [...]
On Downwinding: Preparing for Wind, Without Wind
Not every downwind season begins with downwind conditions. In many places, spring offers fragments rather than full runs: partial wind, confused chop, short fetch, or days that never quite organize. It is easy to treat [...]
On Equipment: Leashes
"I'm a good swimmer, I'll be fine." The boat is five feet away, then ten, then fifteen. The hull is above the water, catching air, rolling with the waves. You are floating in the water, [...]
On Training: Endurance as Structural Tolerance
Something went in a shoulder during what should have been a recovery paddle. Not a hard session, not a race, just an hour on flat water at a pace that required nothing in particular. The [...]
Nationals: Shared Uncertainty
There are paddlers in the launch area you've never raced before. Names you've seen in results from the other coast, or heard mentioned by someone who trains differently, in water you've never paddled. They're rigging [...]
Latest News
Carolina Cup 2019
Racing Alone, Not Really. by Lisa Malick The simplicity of the name alone suggests the elite nature of the event, which draws top competitors from around the world. According to their event page on Paddle Guru, the race became the largest and most competitive SUP races in the world. Even though [...]
Narrow River: Sweet Release of Depth
As all locals are aware, Rhode Island is the epicenter of surfski racing in New England. As inexorable as gravity, the wee state draws in paddlers from hundreds of miles away. Mary Beth and I took advantage of this mysterious attractive force to grab a couple of extra hours of sleep [...]
2 Events, 2 weeks, 2 much Rowing Fun!
This February I was able to compete in two indoor rowing events; a team relay( 10,000 meters) with my son, Tyler and daughter in law Jen, along with Greg Lesher and "erged on" by Mary Beth. A week later, I competed in my 17th Crash B's (Indoor Rowing Championship) 2000 meters. [...]
Chattajack 31: Living by the Sword
Paddling 31 miles down the Tennessee River isn't everyone's dream, but veterans of the Chattajack 31 are relentless in trying to convince you that it should be. The camaraderie of shared suffering! The pre-dawn muster! The fully-trained medical staff! How could I resist their rabid proselytizing? I registered in early May, [...]
2018 SurfskiRacing.com Series Winners
Congratulations to Greg Lesher, Chris Quinn, and Chris Chappell for their season performances and taking the podium places in the series. This is Greg's third time to win as he did in 2016, 2017 and now 2018. I started the series in 2010 and Greg only did 2 races then scoring [...]
Plum Beach Lighthouse Race: End Days
The inexorable march of time has once again made fools of us all, drawing another New England paddling season to a close despite our frequent mid-race assertions that "This duck-slapping debacle is never going to end!" Fortunately, Wesley had negotiated a one-week extension by dusting off an unused standby course in [...]
Surfski Classifieds
Find your perfect boat today!
Surfski Reviews
Looking for an ocean ski? Check out the surfski comparison chart!
New 2016 Stellar SEL 2G Surf Ski-12 year Quest is Over!
My surfski career started out much like my kayak career. In the early 1990's I bought my first boat, a new plastic P & H Capella that served me well for a year. Then I wanted something lighter and faster and progressed to a 55 lb Nigel Dennis Greenlander Pro [...]
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 [...]
Ninja and Swordfish.Much Fun!
I made a road trip down to Mark Ceconi's (SurfskiRacing.com) neck of the woods, combining a business trip with a paddling session. While I had planned on paddling both Friday evening and Saturday, I arrived at Mark's too late to go paddling. However, the evening was far from lost. While [...]
Epic V14 Ultra, My First Impressions by Wesley Echols, SurfskiRacing.com
I spent many years running road races and I rarely talked to my training partners about anything other than "training". The topic of conversations were how many miles did you do this week? Did you do interval training? How is your recovery? Are you at optimal weight? How many long [...]
Surf Ski Review, Stellar SES, Fenn Spark, Epic V10L
Over the past year I have bought or paddled many skis: Epic V10 Ultra, Epic V14 Ultra, Fenn Glide Elite, Think Uno Max(2), Evo II(2), Think Ion, Think Big Eze, Huki S1X Special, and the Huki S1XL. Included in this long list is the Epic V10L Ultra and the Fenn [...]






















