SurfSkiRacing.com – Page 69 – #1 in Surfski News, Reviews and Used Surfskis For Sale

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

2009 Salem Sound Double Header Race Summary – by Wesley Echols

Something Different! The Salem Sound Double Header offered two slightly different twists than our usual races this summer. Race Director Ed Duggan of Beverly intentionally kept the multitude of potential race courses close to his vest until that morning increasing the tension leading up to the race. Salem Sound is encircled [...]

Mayors Cup 2009 – by Wesley Echols

Two days after the Mayor’s Cup it is a beautiful day here in Rhode Island, brilliant sunshine, 6 knots of wind. Today it was easy for me to decide which ski to take off the rack: the UNO. The forecast of small craft/gale for Sunday’s race caused me to bring my most [...]

Mayors Cup 2009: The Gods Must be Crazy – by Mark Ceconi
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Mayors Cup 2009: The Gods Must be Crazy – by Mark Ceconi

NE US Surfski Race Reports - 2009

Mayors Cup 2009: The Gods Must be Crazy – by Mark Ceconi

In a repeat of last year’s race, irate weather gods with a cruel sense of humor dropped from the sky extremely challenging weather, once again forcing the cancellation of all kayak classes save the Elite surfski class, some tandem classes, and several OC-2s. With winds blowing from the north at a [...]

Mayors Cup 2009 – A Race to Survive – by Tim Dwyer
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Mayors Cup 2009 – A Race to Survive – by Tim Dwyer

NE US Surfski Race Reports - 2009

Mayors Cup 2009 – A Race to Survive – by Tim Dwyer

What, no Surfski?! I abandoned my surfski for this race. Yet I was itching to go all the way around Manhattan this year as conditions last year were tough enough to be cancelled mid-race. As ungainly and awkward as they might be for racing, a tandem sea kayak is a good [...]

Mayors Cup 2009 – by Erik Borgnes

The pre-race evening started innocently enough; I had the pleasure of staying with the exhaustingly-inquisitive Joe Glickman (the Glicker), old man Greg Barton, drop-waist jeaned and jovial Sean Rice, and the surly-appearing, crossword puzzle manic Bevan Manson. Our dinner conversation began with the predictable immature banter about our waitress's finer qualities and [...]

Lighthouse To Lighthouse 2009 – by Wayne Lysobey
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Lighthouse To Lighthouse 2009 – by Wayne Lysobey

NE US Surfski Race Reports - 2009

Lighthouse To Lighthouse 2009 – by Wayne Lysobey

Outriggers, kayaks, rowing shells, competition, blue sky, 175 friends, food, sunshine, waves, “talk like a pirate” day, beer, clams and oysters. How many stories might be written with the above words? How many days see all of the above? Such a day was September 19, 2009 at the Soundkeeper’s Lighthouse to [...]