(Special blog post from Don Kiesling, Tsunami Rangers officer)
Racing is a fun and effective way to improve your paddling skills. In order to go fast, you must hone both your technique and your fitness. Your improved stroke and athleticism will carry over to all of your paddling endeavors. Additionally, you may want to improve your speed by using a surfski. Racing skis are tippier than recreational (cruising / exploring / rock bashing) kayaks, and you will spend many hours improving your balance so that you can focus on paddling and not bracing. Again, improved skill will benefit every paddling outing, making you more comfortable on the water. Finally, races are fun social events, where you can meet many talented and enthusiastic paddlers.
The racing stroke may seem one-dimensional – just a forward stroke over and over again. However, there are many nuances, and one can spend a lifetime on mastery. Each person has to figure out the best method for applying maximum power. Not only on each individual stroke, but over the course of a workout or race, your technique may need to vary. Other examples of when you may change your stroke are in winds, currents, or while drafting another kayak. It’s best to find an experienced paddler or coach to help you identify your optimal technique. Once you’ve spent time practicing it, you will start to figure out how to paddle effectively in the aforementioned conditions.
Although most kayakers are fit from lots of paddling and other sports, your first race will probably be a humbling experience in both watching the top racers speed away from you, and in feeling the fatigue overcome your limbs and lungs. It’s not uncommon to feel “gassed” after the furious first few minutes, and then realize that you’ve got 5, 10, or more miles to go! Don’t worry, it gets easier in subsequent races as your training base builds, your efficiency improves, and you learn the best way to pace yourself. If you’ve trained for other types of racing (running, cycling, swimming, etc.) you may already know some protocols for achieving race-level fitness. If not, you should research this and/or talk to a coach. The basics include building a fitness base with a few months of moderate-intensity paddling and technique work. Then you progress to speed work and race simulation-type efforts. You can also benefit from strength and mobility work, which are great for the off-season.
What is drafting? As in other sports, there can be a significant advantage to being just behind or adjacent to another racer. As a kayak moves forward, the displaced water creates a wave. Another kayak can be positioned on this wave so that it’s pointed slightly downhill, reducing the resistance. In effect, the second kayak is surfing a small wave! The downhill orientation is nearly imperceptible, but the decreased resistance is very obvious. Drafting effectively takes practice, though, so it’s best to practice with a friend before attempting it in a race. You have to find the right position, and especially avoid bumping the boat in front or allowing the front paddler’s paddle to hit your boat. Drafting is only effective in flat or light upwind conditions. In rough conditions and especially downwind, it’s best to use the natural waves to your advantage and find your own line. Finally, be sure to check a race’s rules regarding drafting. Sometimes it’s allowed, sometimes not, and sometimes with restrictions (e.g., only draft boats in your class).
If you haven’t tried a surfski, it might feel weird at first because you don’t use your legs and knees in the same way for boat control. Your contact points are simply your butt, hips, and feet. Although it’s different from a decked kayak, it’s not more difficult, and with some practice you will be feeling comfortable before long. The benefits of surfskis over decked boats include the ease and safety of a simple re-mount procedure in the case of capsize, the simplicity of not needing a spray skirt, the encouragement to dress for the water temperature because you get splashed, and the ergonomic setup for a powerful paddling stroke. However, every surfski is shaped differently and you may have to try several before you find one that feels comfortable.
Top-of-the-line surfskis are roughly 21 feet long by 17 inches wide, with a fairly round hull shape. Therefore, while extremely fast, they’re very tippy for most racing novices, and you aren’t fast when you’re bracing to stay upright! However, the surfski market has recently exploded with designs that are more forgiving due to shorter length, more width, and in some cases, a flatter bottom. A classic mistake is to buy an expert ski, and to struggle with balance for the first few months or years. Some paddlers have quit the sport, and many others have greatly hindered their progress, by trying to start with a surfski that’s too far beyond their abilities. Most novices would be wise to start with a more stable model. As a rough guide, a surfski that is at least 19 inches wide will be a good starting point for experienced kayakers. In some cases, paddlers master their first boat, and then upgrade to a top-of-the-line model later. While some may need to sell that first ski to finance the second, it’s great to hold onto the first one for “big water” days, or to loan to friends who may be itching to try racing. Fortunately, there is a big market for beginner surfskis and they hold their value.
Surfskis are almost always lighter than touring kayaks. Lighter is faster! But the result is that they’re also more fragile. You may be used to running your kayak up onto a beach, or chucking it onto car or garage racks, but you’ll want to baby your racing surfski a little more. Alternatively, get up to speed on doing your own repairs, because composite repair is expensive! This is not to say that surfskis are insufficiently built for their intended use. Just get used to launching and landing in a foot or two of water when possible, and plan to transport and store your ski on foam cradles, or something similar.
Hopefully you’re now stoked to try surfski paddling for fun, fitness, or racing glory! The next article will have more information about racing and finding the good races, so racers: Start your engines!
Please feel free to post your comments and questions just below this article. Don or I will respond where appropriate.
To receive my weekly post, just enter your name, click on the “subscribe” button (near top of right column) and you’ll be notified of each new post. -Eric
Great overview of the sport. I for one am an enthusiast and your story read very well. Good job Donald. Aloha from Kauai.
Don, your post, as Dylan said, is a great overview of the sport. I’m glad you wrote it, as you know a lot more about the sport than I, but I want to say I paddled an Odyssea surf ski for years, starting in early 1984. After my heart operations, I tried several times to paddle one of John Dixon’s tippy skis (thanks, John!), but it took too much core energy for me to stay upright. I think I need a ski with a fatter bottom. Hmmm.
As the ski racing world continues to grow, so does the bredth of surfski design. There are some wonderful “entry-level skis” on the market that aren’t the spec skis. Finn, Epic and Think all make stable skis in addition to their tippier skis. Epic also saw the desire of sea kayakers who want to make a shift to ski paddling and designed the Epic V8, which is shorter, wider and slightly flatter under the cockpit. There’s a lot of great boats out there to help people get into racing skis. But, you’re right, you do have to work your core muscles a bit more than in other boats (except for ICF sprint boats).
I paddle Epic’s V10 Sport, which is also slightly wider and flatter than their V10 or V12. I love the V10 Sport. Some other stable skis are the Finn XT and Think Evo. All great boats that I personally know people who are happy with them. You can read reviews of all these boats at http://www.surfski.info
Cheers,
Dan
editor
Canoe & Kayak Racing
Nice write-up, Don. It’s always awesome to me when a new racer just gets out and just tries racing. It’s the surest way to re-connect with the inner-warrior that’s in us all. I hope your write-up gets some more people out there!
To wake up and read this article is a great start of the day. I am living in Tarifa, the most southern point of Europe (the strait of Gibraltar) and would love to see more paddlers here.
A good expression of the surfski sport. Thank you very much Don Kiesling.
p.s. Q: May i translate the article into spanish and publish this on my website?
Oh man, I bet paddling a surfski off Gibraltar would be awesome, especially if the wind was blowing! Eric, thanks for giving Don a venue to share his passion. And you’ve always understood the surfski, since your very early experience with the Odyssey ski, and the phenomenal athleticism of Steve Sinclair – one of the sport’s least known, but nonetheless talented watermen. And what is a Tsunami boat really, but a surfski on steroids?
I look foward to Part 2 from Don. Hopefully he covers more of the special atrributes of surskis, like how they shine in downwind conditions. For any newbies reading this post and the comments, you can contact me for an introductory surfski lesson in California – we have a fleet of Epic skis ready to go!
Don(and Eric) thank you for this article. I have been hoping to try a surf ski for some time now. I would really love to get one off shore to both cover some distance and play in following seas. Somedays my X-15 just seems big and heavy. Perhaps I can get together with King and take Kenny up in a demo.
Henk: So glad you liked the article! Feel free to translate and re-publish. I agree with Kenny that Gibraltar must be a stunning paddling destination (or home!).
Don
It’s good to know there are more stable surf skis out there for those of us not ready for the super-sleek racing machines.
Henk, if it’s okay with Don, who wrote this week’s post, it’s okay with me to translate his essay into Spanish and put on your website. Gibraltar! I’d love to paddle there.
Don, My first experiences with surf skis was somewhat frustrating in that they are not only tippy but difficult to maneuver due to their length and sharp bow/sterns. I like the idea of starting with a recreational ski to get your sea legs before advancing into the racing designs. When I was test paddling them years ago there were few if any rec skis available but that has changed with the popularity of the sport. For the next three months I will be in Australia where surf skis are very popular and I am now very interested in expanding my paddling skills with these speedy kayaks. Surf skis have a long history in Australia and South Africa, and maybe you could add some of that in part 2 of your article. Kuk.
Cap’n Kakuk, where down under will you be hanging mostly? I can put you in touch with my Epic agents for demo paddling a”stable” but still fast surfski. Virtually every beach town in Oz has a Surf Lifesaving club, which is part bar, part surfski club! You will be amazed by the ancient paddling traditions of some of these establishments, going back many decades for most of them. You will do fine on the basic “spec ski” – not much tippier than a Tsunami kayak, but lighter and definitely longer. Manuverability on a ski is relative: since they are essentially open water craft, the main requirement is that you can steer it while surfing an ocean swell or steep wind wave. And thanks to rudders under the stern (rather than off the stern), they will hold a line on a wave very well. Go for it!
-Kenny
Hey Rangers you all forgot to mention one of your own John Dixon designed the Epic V10 .
Lawrence, you right! John doesn’t get enough credit for his ground-breaking (and water parting) design work in long distance surfskis. Epic calls him their “computer wiz”, but John wishes to be known as a “boat designer”. The V10 has won every major surski race on the planet – Molokai Challenge, World Cup races in South Africa, and Austrailia, the Dubai Shamaal, US Surfski Champs, and so on. John also designed the V10 Sport, and did the number cruching on the super fast V12, which was the winning ski in the last 2 Molokais! Someone needs to interview John and write a story about his boat design work. His impact on surfski design runs deep. I tried to interview him once, but he wouldn’t sit still long enough…
Lawrence is so right about John Dixon designing the famous Epic V10. When you get to know John, you learn that he is a person of true humility, even though he is a genius. And though he has a slim build, he is a very strong and able paddler, as anyone who goes out with him can attest.
That’s a good idea about interviewing him, Kenny. Perhaps in a month or two (I have my next 5 columns lined up), if he is willing and available, I’ll be able to feature him. I think readers of this blog would like to meet the venerable John Dixon.
Eric, if anyone can get Dixon to open up, it might be you. I sent him a list of interview questions a couple years ago, kept proding him to answer, but I guess he had better things to do (he is busy saving the world now with his latest invention, a DNA sequencing machine).