SurfSkiRacing.com – Page 48 – #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

The 2013 Blackburn Challenge: ‘Stick a Fork in Me, and Turn Me Over…’ by Mark Ceconi
Gallery
The 2013 Blackburn Challenge: ‘Stick a Fork in Me, and Turn Me Over…’ by Mark Ceconi

Blackburn Challenge, NE US Surfski Race Reports - 2013, Race Reports

The 2013 Blackburn Challenge: ‘Stick a Fork in Me, and Turn Me Over…’ by Mark Ceconi

Quickie Quiz Question: What do the following have in common? a.) habaneros b.) Mount Kilauea c.) the plastic slipcovers on Grandma’s furniture d.) the 2013 Blackburn Challenge Answer: the ability to produce overwhelming, oppressive heat For the 27th running of this infamous east coast event in Gloucester, MA (Say ‘GLAW-stah.’), the cruelest [...]

2013 Blackburn Challenge, Who Turned Up the Heat?
Gallery
2013 Blackburn Challenge, Who Turned Up the Heat?

Blackburn Challenge, NE US Surfski Race Reports - 2013, Race Reports

2013 Blackburn Challenge, Who Turned Up the Heat?

The predicted thunder storms did not roll in until late afternoon, nor did the predicted 10-15 mph winds southwest winds. However, the oppressive heat and humidity was with us. Driving to the race on Friday, stuck in the Boston traffic, Betsy, my wife, would call out 109, 115, 122 every ten [...]

The 2009 Blackburn Challenge – by Wesley Echols
Gallery
The 2009 Blackburn Challenge – by Wesley Echols

Blackburn Challenge, NE US Surfski Race Reports - 2009, Race Reports

The 2009 Blackburn Challenge – by Wesley Echols

Every ocean race is a unique experience. This is the excitement of ocean racing; there are so many unpredictable factors to take into account. The usual weather conditions; wind, current, tide, water/air temperature, fog and surf, if applicable. This day’s race forecast was initially for a small craft warning with thunderstorms [...]

My First Blackburn by Reid Hyle – Repost from 2012
Gallery
My First Blackburn by Reid Hyle – Repost from 2012

NE US Surfski Race Reports - 2012, Race Reports

My First Blackburn by Reid Hyle – Repost from 2012

The Blackburn Challenge has been on my “to do” list of races since I began racing in a sea kayak with the Mid Atlantic Paddler’s Association in Virginia back in 2002. But even with all the racing and travelling I’ve done since then I’d not yet made the trip up to [...]

Casco Bay Challenge? Finding the Finish. by Greg Lesher
Gallery
Casco Bay Challenge? Finding the Finish. by Greg Lesher

NE US Surfski Race Reports - 2013

Casco Bay Challenge? Finding the Finish. by Greg Lesher

The Casco Bay Challenge was designed as a rare New England paddling treat - an extended downwind race across the entire bay, amidst dozens of striking Maine islands. While the forecast initially looked good for such a race, a cursèd fog befell us. An elderly salt on the beach warned us [...]

Ride the Bull:The Longest 8 Seconds by Greg Lesher
Gallery
Ride the Bull:The Longest 8 Seconds by Greg Lesher

Race Reports

Ride the Bull:The Longest 8 Seconds by Greg Lesher

Nobody finishes the Blackburn Challenge or the Essex River Race and says aloud "Man, was that fun!" That was the universal refrain after the inaugural Ride the Bull race, however. Actually, one of the paddlers did tell me mid-race that he "wanted to go home", but since said home is in New Jersey, [...]