Five years ago, Andover resident Ken Cooper had never heard of a surfski. Now, he prefers the craft to anything else, entering races and paddling with a surfski group in Beverly once a week.
Originally a kayak enthusiast, he switched to using a surfski, a sleeker, lighter cousin of the kayak, for one reason: speed.
Surfskis can reach top speeds of 15 to 18 miles per hour, Cooper said. He recently competed in the Blackburn 2008 race, paddling 20 miles around Gloucester in 2 hours, 52 minutes.
"It's all about paddling for fitness," he said. "It's not like a kayak, where you sit and sight-see. You're always looking ahead (in a surfski), going from wave to wave. As long as the bow is pointed down, it will gain speed.
"It's like a surfboard, but you never get to the beach."
Unlike a kayak, a surfski is completely sealed, and the rider sits atop the boat. Even when it tips over, it cannot fill with water and the rider just climbs back on, he said. "It's like a big beach toy," Cooper said.
Cooper's fiberglass surfski is 21 inches long and 17 inches wide, "just wide enough to sit in," he said, which is about the average size for a surfski. It weighs about 30 pounds.
Surfskis take a little getting used to, because they tip over easily. They are propelled with a paddle, twisting, using the muscles in the torso and not the arms, he said.
"You're always working on your forward stroke," Cooper said.
Unlike a kayak, surfskis have a rudder, operated by foot pedals, and are not steered with the paddle. Cooper sees a big difference between kayaks and surfskis: "It's like golf and croquet. They're both on grass, and you hit a ball."
The surfski originated in South Africa and Australia as a tool for lifeguards to rescue beachgoers struggling in the surf, Cooper said. Surfski racing is competitive in the Eastern Hemisphere; the winner of the Dubai Shamaal International Surf Ski Race in the United Arab Emirates receives more than $30,000, Cooper said.
Surfskis are slowly gaining popularity in the U.S. Five years ago, Cooper said he had to special order his first surfski and have it shipped from South Africa. Now, surfskis are available to buy locally.
Cooper races with a group named North East Surfski Racing, which meets every Tuesday night at Lynch Park, a public park in Beverly, right on the ocean.
It's informal and members, ranging from beginners to experts, learn from each other. No one in the group has been using a surfski for more than five years, he said.
Members enter races all over the Northeast during the spring, summer and fall. They post results on their Web site, awarding points to racers who earn top finish times. Cooper is in first place, having finished seven races since May.
There is a lot of camaraderie among people who surfski, he said.
Cooper, an architect at AddInc in Boston, has two sons, who are on the football and ski teams at Andover High School.
As a teenager and young adult, Cooper enjoyed white-water kayaking. He placed second in the country at the 1973 U.S. white-water championship, he said. After giving it up to focus on career and family, he started kayaking for recreation later in life.
He heard of the surfski for the first time from some other sea kayakers. The first time he entered the Blackburn race in Gloucester — he was paddling a sea kayak — he saw surfskis in the race, and how fast they are, Cooper said.
From there, he bought his first surfski and started meeting with other surfski enthusiasts.
It takes about six months to get used to navigating ocean waves on the tippy boat. It's like learning to ride a bike as an adult — it takes practice, Cooper said.
"All it takes is determination," Cooper said. "You just have to work at it. ... You don't need a lot of strength, you just need good technique.
"When you get up to eight, nine, 10 miles an hour on a wave, you're going so fast. You're just flogging yourself to catch waves, and then ride them," he said, breaking into a smile. "It's a lot of fun, competitive. At a race, you never know what's going to happen."
Catch a wave
Andover resident Ken Cooper races his surfski with a Beverly-based surfski group called North East Surfski Racing, which meets and races at Lynch Park every Tuesday evening. To find out more, visit www.nesurfski.net.
