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On Training: Seeing the Water
The first time something catches your eye before you understand what it means, you almost dismiss it. A change in texture fifty meters ahead, a slight darkening of the surface, the way another paddler two boats over suddenly lifts their pace before you've registered anything worth responding to. It registers briefly [...]
National Series Notebook: A Loaded July
Patrick Dolan flew 5,000 miles from Hawaii to Massachusetts and won the 2026 USA COR National Championships on a grueling open water course against a stacked field of athletes. Five days later, Austin Kieffer won the showcase race at the Gorge Downwind Championships paddlesports festival in the biggest conditions the event [...]
On Training: Physical Integration
The race was two-thirds over and the aerobic system was still running cleanly. Breathing had stayed in control, the stroke hadn't collapsed, and the pace was within the range that should have been sustainable. But something had shifted in the last thirty minutes. A shoulder carrying something separate from the general [...]
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 a wave takes a handful of hard strokes, sometimes just one, and then the boat rides [...]
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, the boat responds, and effort goes toward holding a line and keeping the hull settled underneath [...]
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 still act with what remains. The finish is rarely a single effort. It is a sequence [...]
Fun evening of boatwake surfing with @nuriroeleveld1640 part 2 / Nelo 550 surfski / 18.08.2026
Surfski Reviews
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South African, Ian Black’s SEL 2G Review
I couldn't wait another 2 days for the truck to deliver the boats, so I borrowed a trailer and drove to the depot in peak traffic to unpack the crate and bring them home. At first sight I could see the effort put into the preparation of the craft and [...]
Update by Reid Hyle, New 2015 Stellar SES 2G Surf Ski Review
October 14, 2015, Reid Hyle's Thoughts on the New SES 2G Definitely put the new SES on your short list if you are a medium sized paddler looking for a new ride. There isn’t much need to go over a lot of detail about what has been changed from the [...]
NK Rapido Surf Ski Review at 40 miles
Review by Wesley Echols Intro I got my NK Rapido, Carbon Lite layup(Green Tip) at the Run of the Charles Race in Boston, Massachusetts on April 27th, 2026. I had previously paddled the Storm for about 20 minutes and more recently the lastest version of the Nitro at the 2026 [...]
Custom Kayaks Synergy Lite – by Mark Ceconi
Surfskis tend to fall into two main camps, 19’ x 19” ‘stable’ skis, tailored for those individuals welcomed to the fold, moving up from fast sea kayaks and the like, and the high performance skis (H.P.S.), measuring in at needlelike 21” x 17” dimensions. The transition (a.k.a.. ‘leap’) from one [...]
Chris on Nelo 550. It was a hit!
Training Paddle, Wesley and Chris from Wesley Echols on Vimeo.