#1 in Surfski News and Reviews2026-07-21T11:02:44-04:00
  • National Series Notebook: A Red-Hot October

    The USA Surfski leaderboard grew to 203 paddlers this week, with seven new names added in five days. Kieffer now sits just ahead of Wilson Reavley (A26), whose 1,959 points represent a full season of [...]

  • On Downwinding: Crosswind and Mixed Days

    From the parking lot the water looks like nothing worth the drive. Wind chop runs in from the southwest, a leftover groundswell rolls in from the southeast, and where the two meet the surface has [...]

  • 2026 Great Stone Dam Race

    By Wesley Echols I really enjoyed myself today at the Great Stone Dam Classic, an 8.14 mile race in Lawrence, MA hosted by Shawn Burke, and Francisco. It was a perfect day New England day [...]

  • On Training: Decision and Commitment

    A runner lifts behind you, and for half a second you know exactly what to do. Then the half second passes, and you're still thinking about it. The gap between the boat and the swell [...]

  • On Training: Orientation and Pattern Recognition

    Your nemesis is two kilometers of confused water where the swell from the south meets a cross-chop off the eastern point of land. You've paddled it dozens of times. For most of those sessions it's [...]

  • On Downwinding: Leveraging Energy

    The difference between flatwater paddling and downwinding isn't subtle. Grinding a flat stretch is the opposite: all work and no rest, every foot of distance earned stroke by stroke with nothing free about it.  Catching [...]

  • 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 [...]

Latest News

Bird Island Challenge 2010 – by Wesley Echols

In 2007 there was a group of surfski paddlers including myself that were encouraged to participate in this race by Paul Cordella, a local kayak racer that can be often found on Wednesday nights training on the Charles River with the local paddlers including surfski racer Ellen Stewart who just recently [...]

Fifth Annual Mayors Cup Race, 2010 – by Mark Ceconi

When the first large barge came through, we were concentrating on staying upright; nothing was predictable, and all that lovely forward momentum we had so enjoyed up until that point had packed its bags and decided to take leave. The Coast Guard safety boat came over the bullhorn, and sounded almost [...]

Mayors Cup 2010 – by Gary Williams

The Achilles International Kayak Program has participated in the Mayor’s Cup practically since the start of the event. In the last couple of years the team has grown, but in 2008 and 2009 we suffered the wrath of the weather gods along with everyone else. This resulted in only our most [...]

The 2010 Nahant Bay Race – by Wesley Echols

So Many Races in August!! Nahant Race, One of Many and a local Favorite! Today, here in New England there were three races within New England. The 3rd Nahant Race was in Swampscott, Massachusetts right outside of Boston of which there were 15 paddlers. There was the New England Flatwater Championships in New Hampshire [...]

Milford ECORA Race 2010 – by Mark Ceconi

“Hut!” “Hut!” “WHOAAA!” (Splash!’‘Splash!’) erupted from my right, as a banana shaped ama lifted high at right angles to the water like a garden pergola, framing momentarily two legs and a random arm sticking out of the water. The blue OC-2 I had just passed at the turn buoy had gone [...]

2010 Jamestown ‘Double Beaver’ – by Mark Ceconi

Rounding the clanging, green buoy can off Beavertail Point under the watchful rotating beacon of its lighthouse perched on the cliffs marking the ‘single’ half of the ‘Double’ Beaver, I was so looking forward to a slight break from the jouncy conditions behind. Maybe a sweet run or two on the [...]

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