SurfSkiRacing.com – Page 47 – #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

This year’s L2L is September 7, 2013. Repost of L2L, 2012 Race-Long Live Open Water!
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This year’s L2L is September 7, 2013. Repost of L2L, 2012 Race-Long Live Open Water!

Race Reports

This year’s L2L is September 7, 2013. Repost of L2L, 2012 Race-Long Live Open Water!

The L2L is the best attended race outside the Blackburn Challenge. It is one of my favorite races due to the venue and the race direction of Wayne Lysobey, Gary Williams and crew. It also caps off the race season for many paddlers and is the final race in SurfskiRacing.com Race [...]

U.S. Surfski Championships by Wesley Echols
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U.S. Surfski Championships by Wesley Echols

Race Reports

U.S. Surfski Championships by Wesley Echols

Many months ago when the United States Surf Ski Championship announced a course change due to the Americas Cup Sailiing Races, I knew I was going. I looked online to see if I could find any video of the course that would enable me to access the conditions and I came [...]

Jamestown Double Beaver: Now 17% More Thrilling! by Greg Lesher
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Jamestown Double Beaver: Now 17% More Thrilling! by Greg Lesher

NE US Surfski Race Reports - 2013

Jamestown Double Beaver: Now 17% More Thrilling! by Greg Lesher

Ah, mid-summer, when a young man's fancy turns to the Jamestown Double Beaver - the most technically challenging and innuendo-laden course on the New England ski calendar (although the upstart Ride the Bull race admittedly has potential). Mostly named for the out-and-back crossings past Beavertail Light at the southern-most tip of [...]

3 Races in 10 Days ending with Today’s Double Beaver! Whew!
Gallery
3 Races in 10 Days ending with Today’s Double Beaver! Whew!

Race Reports

3 Races in 10 Days ending with Today’s Double Beaver! Whew!

This time last week (Aug 3, Saturday) our crew from New England and one Floridian were going under the San Mateo Bridge in San Francisco Bay for the US Surfski Championship. The previous Wednesday(July 31), Reid Hyle and myself raced the lead up race prior to Saturday's main event from Coyota [...]

ICF Ocean Racing World Championships by Dorian Wolter
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ICF Ocean Racing World Championships by Dorian Wolter

Race Reports

ICF Ocean Racing World Championships by Dorian Wolter

Over the week leading up to the race, the swells became smaller and smaller and a high pressure area that is usually located over the Azores had moved to Portugal for the week. This meant there was not going to be any wind. You could see the smile on the faces [...]

Blackburn Challenge-Cooler Heads Prevail by Greg Lesher
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Blackburn Challenge-Cooler Heads Prevail by Greg Lesher

Blackburn Challenge, Race Reports

Blackburn Challenge-Cooler Heads Prevail by Greg Lesher

Blackburn Challenge: Cooler Heads Prevail I apologize for the delay in posting my Blackburn Challenge race report. I've spent the last week immersed in an ice bath, mainlining chilled Harpoons and listening to the cool, cool vocal stylings of Mr. Lionel Richie. They say that you haven't felt real heat until you've stood [...]