Latest News
Jamestown Double Beaver Race 2022
Reposted with Permission from New England Surfski Area paddlers met in Rhode Island for the 14th Jamestown Double Beaver on a stunning day. With competition from the Toms River Race in New Jersey the day after, participation was lower than usual. The field consisted of 7 surfskis and 3 SUPs. As [...]
Sakonnet River Race 2022
We had another good turnout for the 13th Sakonnet River Race including three doubles made up of two mixed teams(Robin, Igor), (Chris, Patty), and one all-male team(Bill and Kirk). Dave Thomas of Stellar also made the trip down from Northfield. Conditions were very flat with cooler temps making the flat [...]
Downwind Delight — Jamestown Double Beaver 2011 – By Tim Dwyer
In complete contrast to the silky smooth, records to be broken conditions of this year's Blackburn, the 2011 Double Beaver offered unruly, chaotic waves and the season’s best downwind runs. This was surfski heaven and the course did not disappoint. My weather predictions made a liar out of me. The night [...]
Narrow River Race 2022
The post-Covid 2022 New England race season got off to a blazing start with 24 entries, 16 eager surfski paddlers, and two K1 starters. We had paddlers from NJ, MA, CT, NY, and of course Rhode Island. Rhode Island native Mike Florio put the hammer down from the start and [...]
Essex River (Replacement) Race: Meandering
The Essex River Race was an early casualty of pandemic restrictions in 2020, and was originally rescheduled this year from its traditional spring date to early October. When the Cape Ann Rowing Club subsequently decided to cancel the race, I had no choice but to step up and volunteer Bill Kuklinski [...]
Essex River Replacement Race Registration
See Paddleguru for information on this Oct 2, 2021 Race. https://paddleguru.com/races/EssexRiverReplacementRace
Surfski Reviews
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Wesley’s Next Surf Ski Review:Think Uno 2G
The video by Chris Chappell, above, is me demoing the Think Uno 1G on the Charles River in 2009. I bought that boat knowing I could only paddle it on flat water or calm ocean conditions. Although I paddled it once on part of the Ride the Bull Course, one [...]
Nelo 560 Review
FIT The bucket design of the 560M is an ergo design, it's a narrower fit for smaller hips but it's tapered to also accommodate larger hips. HANDLING SPEED Flat water speed was the easiest to compare: The 560M is amazingly faster: I don't feel bored, and it doesn't feel like [...]
Think Jet, Right Sized
Last week I got to try the pint-size Think Jet. It comes in at 17ft by 19 inches and accommodates 80 lbs to 165 lbs. While I am clearly over the weight limit, I took it for a 30-minute paddle yesterday to get a feel for it. It is designed [...]
Mako 6 Fiberglass Review – by Wesley Echols
The glass Mako 6 comes in at 37 pounds. The weight difference between the glass version and the carbon version is substantial. The glass version, like most other same model skis in different layups, handles similarly but the heavier layups tend to dampen the overall feeling of the ski. So [...]
Chris on Nelo 550. It was a hit!
Training Paddle, Wesley and Chris from Wesley Echols on Vimeo.