SurfSkiRacing.com – Page 17 – #1 in Surfski News, Reviews and Used Surfskis For Sale

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, [...]
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 [...]
On Racing: Expecting the Unexpected
The forecast you checked the night before is completely different when you wake up. The wind has increased, the swell period has changed, and there's a conversation happening near the water's edge about which direction [...]
On Downwinding: Reading Lines
The line appears before the decision to take it is fully formed. A shift in the water texture, maybe forty meters ahead, something about the way a long roller is organizing at an angle to [...]
On Training: Chain of Fools
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 [...]
Nationals: Meet the (Blackburn) Challenge
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 [...]
18th Sakonnet River Race 2026
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 [...]
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 [...]

Latest News

Battle of the Bay: O’ertaken
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Battle of the Bay: O’ertaken

Race Reports

Battle of the Bay: O’ertaken

Once again, the Battle of the Bay fell within the mandatory blog blackout period following the Gorge Downwind Champs. However, I'm assured that the Committee often turns a blind eye to brief race summaries provided that they "portray surfski paddlers in a positive light" and avoid ancillary alliteration. Hardly seems worth writing anything [...]

Gorge Downwind Champs: Running Wild
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Gorge Downwind Champs: Running Wild

Race Reports

Gorge Downwind Champs: Running Wild

Usually when I write a race report, I find myself having to... let's say "embroider"... the story to keep it interesting. After all, it's mostly the same 25 people finishing in roughly the same order. Sure, you never know exactly what kind of wackiness you'll get from Jan or exactly how [...]

2018 Blackburn Challenge
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2018 Blackburn Challenge

Blackburn Challenge, Race Reports

2018 Blackburn Challenge

Another Year, Another "Good Blackburn" The racing goal for the past 16 years has been to have a "Good Blackburn". The Blackburn is a different kind of race than the other races we do in New England. First of all, it is long: 19.5 miles give or take a few tenths [...]

2018 USCA National Championships 9-12 August 2018
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2018 USCA National Championships 9-12 August 2018

Race Reports

2018 USCA National Championships 9-12 August 2018

2018 USCA National Championships 9-12 August 2018 Onondaga Lake Park, Liverpool NY From 9-12 of August all roads for racing paddlers in the Northeast lead to Onondaga Lake Park just north of Syracuse, New York. In 2016 the United States Canoe Association (USCA) held its annual championships on the Connecticut River [...]

2018 Lighthouse to Lighthouse, Sept 15, 2018
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2018 Lighthouse to Lighthouse, Sept 15, 2018

Race Reports

2018 Lighthouse to Lighthouse, Sept 15, 2018

Get Registered! by Mark Ceconi Come one, come all on Saturday, September 15th, 2018, to one of the most iconic races on the Northeast circuit, the venerable Lighthouse to Lighthouse Race (or “L2L,” as it’s known to the cool kids on the block), in Norwalk, CT. Proceeds benefit the Achilles International [...]

Narragansett Boat Club Regatta 2018
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Narragansett Boat Club Regatta 2018

Race Reports

Narragansett Boat Club Regatta 2018

This ten mile race was directed John Ryan and Dan Gorriaran by the Narragansett Boat Club(rowing) located on the Seekonk River on the East Side of Providence. I have known these guys for years since they put on the Around the Island (Jamestown) and the Counter Revolution Race(1st East Coast Surfski [...]

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You may need to turn on your brain’s synthesizer turbo boost function to follow my (somewhat convoluted) “creative rationale”:
1. This past Saturday (the day I did the editing of this video) was Mandela Day in South Africa, the day on which we recall his 67 years of public service and are encouraged to engage in 67 minutes of public service for those in need. This sets the scene with a shift in focus from ourselves, to others esp. those less fortunate than ourselves.
2. Regardless of one’s stand on religion, I believe that it is difficult to disagree with the assertion that our mission on earth (or at least, a significant part thereof), as individual human beings, is to do our best to make life on earth more like life in heaven. Where goodness, justice, mercy & love, firmly prevail over their evil counterparts.
3. Freddy: It just so happens that I have in fact heard God’s prompting, powerfully, through his music before**.
4. So, the implied question for each of us is: “What can I change in my life to bring the reality of heaven just a little bit closer to the here and now ?” ……….because, Heaven should be HERE and NOW !
5. Even if you don’t like the bigger existential assertion and personal question then, perhaps if you know Cape Town and its immeasurable physical beauty, you may agree, with my secondary, lighter, notion, that when God created Cape Town, he was experimenting with designs for heaven !

** I don’t wish to offend conservative Christians; I am not suggesting that Freddy IS a Divine messenger - I am merely asking you to imagine him as one, and with that mindset, to listen to any promptings you may hear in the song.

Music: Queen "Heaven for Everyone"

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YouTube Video UEx1eWtnNFdlNWNfQUZsT1FUT3dfc2NYeFpFSnRad3RpOC4yMkNCNDUwMTZGMzQ4NzA3

Surfski is Life HEAVEN should be HERE

SurfskiTV July 20, 2026 07:39