SurfSkiRacing.com – Page 74 – #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

Essex River Race 2009 – by Wesley Echols

The Essex race keeps getting bigger and bigger and better and better. Bigger in terms of more racers and better in the organization of the race by Race Director Bill Klunuski, Donna and Dave Lind and Tom Lawler. I knew it was going to be a huge crowd when Tim, Razz [...]

Essex River Race 2009 – by Bill Kuklinkski

We had 20 men's unlimited boats, 4 women's unlimited, and 129 overall a course record. (For some perspective, in 2003 there were only 54 boats and 6 skis total - even as recently as 2007, we had only 77 boats and 14 skis). Great representation from the New England ski community, [...]

Essex River Race 2009 – by Ken Cooper
Gallery
Essex River Race 2009 – by Ken Cooper

NE US Surfski Race Reports - 2009

Essex River Race 2009 – by Ken Cooper

The unlimited kayak class lined up for the start so I took a spot that gave me a good line for the hole shot. Although the Essex is a wide tidal creek, the deep water channel at the start/ finish is just a few boats wide and the tight curves really [...]

Essex River Race 2009 – by Wayne Lysobey

Five and one half miles is what the Essex River race is supposed to be. So why does my stroke coach say over 10k (6.2 miles)? There are more twists and turns in the Essex Race then 10 HOC races. (HOC for Head of the Charles). There are 9 foot tides [...]

Essex River Race 2009 – by Dana Gaines

No matter how many times I row or paddle Essex River, I can never seem to get the steering just right (can anyone?!)-- And 2009 was no different. After an admittedly overzealous start in the Fast Touring Class, I had a bit of a lead coming out of the early twists [...]

The Long Road to Molokai – by Richard Germain
Gallery
The Long Road to Molokai – by Richard Germain

Race Reports

The Long Road to Molokai – by Richard Germain

1996 I was a sea kayak enthusiast looking for a new challenge. So on a hot summer day I heard an ad on the radio for a kayak race in north-eastern Québec, 7 hours away from my home. The race was La Grande Traversée, a 55km crossing of the St-Lawrence River. I [...]