White Water Run before Texas

I am flying out of Portland at 7am to head south for 10 days. It has been about two years since I have seen my family down that way. Not really looking forward to rising around 5am, but I can be a champ. I will miss not be able to paddle. I did get a few runs on some class II+ with a good friend. It was actually my first time in a play boat, liquid logic CR 125, and had a swim after 5 min on the river in this big boiling eddy line. Rushed my roll so I swam, but hey we are all between out swims!

I have learned that I need to roll before each run if possible. I had never been in this little boat before and I had no idea how it felt to run.

Actually after the swim I felt fine and rocked the river the rest of the way down. At the end we drove back up to the top and decided to do the run again. Since the day was about 40 f we started a vehicle, warmed up with some hot tea and lunch. In about 30 min. We were ready to make the run again. This time Kevin and myself had a great run and worked on a bunch of skills. Mostly trying to surf what ever wave we could find.

I have noticed that when I go down the river I try not to aim straight down and am mostly sideways. I am learning that if I can be sideways I can move around the river with alot more speed. I am already heading down river. I think that initially for me it was being comfortable on the river and most of that is learning to relax and not fight the flow of the water to much. Many times it is just about getting into the drivers seat by getting forwards in the boat and turning on the power when needed. Other wise just relax and have FUN!

I will try to post some pics of my adventures in Texas and I hope to paddle New years day.

Happy Holidays,
Saltman

dufek died of a bad stroke

I wanted to talk about my favorite stroke known as the Dufek Stroke. I can remember the first time I saw this stroke. I was watching a sea kayak movie when I was about 20 years old and saw this stroke. I saw this person spin the whole boat 180 degrees with one stroke. I couldn't believe it! Went to try the stroke myself and discovered it was not as easy as what I saw.

5 parts to strokes: examining the dufek
Hand position - Stacked hands (top hand over bottom with safe shoulder position)
body rotation - body needs to be rotated facing your work
boat tilt - use boat tilt to and edge to carve turn
paddle angle - more vertical has less support but more power moving laterally
Length of Stroke - where is the paddle placed

All Five parts are important and should be considered.

In addition to these five parts is one more concept known as an open face, closed face, and neutral face blade position. Think of this as catching water with the scoop, slicing water, or pushing water with the backside of the paddle.

We will look at the dufek on long boats and should rarely be used for smaller kayaks. The problem with using the Dufek is that it is like turning on the brakes and you will lose all speed but turn sharply.

Lets take a look at my Modified Dufek. Take notice that I initiate the stroke with a sweep stroke - kayak held on edge. I hold the edge, rotate to the lifted side, and place the blade at a neutral position at about my knee. When entering the blade into the water remember you dont want to grab any water yet - Neutral Blade! If placed any further forward the boat will slow, the kayak will turn quicker but will surely loose speed. If you do bring the blade forward you also want to rotate and lean your body forward taking weight off the stern. This speeds up the turn.

The length of the stroke is the nearest to the kayak as possible for maximum effect.



I rarely use a traditional dufek that is placed at the bow. This is even more valuable in white water. If you use this in short little boats you will not turn, but simply spin out. To experiment with the stroke try to place the blade in the water so that it is slicing and not grabbing water -neutral blade - then slowly open the paddle to catch water. Once the boat is turning, close off the blade angle, notice that the boat is still turning without a strong open blade face. You may even notice that the neutral blade position will turn you just as well as the open position without compromising speed. The most important part of the stroke is the initiation of the turn, sweep then bow rudder.

This is Jason Self showing us a great bow rudder. You can read further about Jason at Kayak Angler Blog



Here is another example; the kayak is initiated into the turn with a sweep stroke, body is rotated towards stroke, stacked hands, boat held on edge, and the blade is held at about the knee, but you will see white splashed coming off the blade. A neutral blade will reduce the splashing and keep the boat speed.

Hope this helps out. Of course there are many situations and many different subtleties when using this stroke in different water conditions.

Here is some fun video.



Happy paddlin-

Saltman

Surfing at Short Sands

I have been super busy with school, birthday stuff and life. I did get a chance to do alittle surfing. My back has been hurting me so getting out into bigger waves is to stressful on my body, but I am still trying! I kinda max out about 6 foot or so. I think that this is mostly in my head and the bigger the wave the more time I have to move around the face. I am learning that I like more green water.

It is also important to take off on the green water just before the waves starts to break. This gives a cleaner ride while you are not be effected by the white water.
While at the beach there were several other white water play boats in the surf. They had some surfers trying to get into the waves with them and I almost witnessed some bad surfing etiquette. The one interesting moment was a surfer had established his/her ride on the wave and a kayaker was trying to drop in right above the surfer. The kayaker would launch down the wave hitting the surfer in the legs for sure! Luckily, for the surfer, the slow white water boat couldn't make the drop. I will be writing more soon I hope. Til then here are a few pics from the day.

Birthday Week - Time for Surfing at the coast.

So, I have a big week. It is my b-day this week. I will be seeing the premier of This is the Sea 4 - CackleTV.com - which is going to be a fun event.



So, happens to be My birthday, November 6th, which will be a lot of fun. I am turning 28 this year. There is another great movie coming out soon. Eastern Horizons. I saw my first little sneak view of a trailer and it looks like a great movie. Part of the film takes place where I started kayaking and grew up. BarHarbor Maine. So two awsome movies to look forward too!

Then I am having a get together with Alder Creek Kayak and Canoe staff in additional to many other people. I will be heading to the coast either this Wednesday for some surfing or Next Monday to do some kayak fishing with Jason Self, kayakangler.blogspot.com and Dave Slover (owner of AlderCreek). I hope to get many pictures to post and should have some fun things to read about in the near future. There is so much going on.
Not easy being a full time college student, full time work, and trying to get my play time in. So, check back in a week and I hope to have plenty of pics and adventures to talk about.

Keep the surf Karma Positive

I had one of my friends tell me a story the other day. The general idea was that he was surfing on what appeared to look like a kayak; The wave ski is actually a surf specific craft. The waves were standing up to about 9 feet on the outside with some smaller breaks on the inside of this area. Many of the surfers were staying closer in and didnt seem to be catching many waves. The surfers saw my two friends catching a few great rides further out where they could not. The person using a wave ski or kayak uses a paddle which is far more efficient when moving around compared to a surfer.



Surfers looked at my friends, made rude comments, expressed frustration, and ultimately didn't really understand what they were seeing. The wave ski and surf kayak, once on a wave, handle like a sports car. These crafts are able to move up and down a wave just like a board surfer, but one can't use their legs.

The other down side is that you are typically strapped into the surf kayak or wave ski. What this translates to the average surfer is alot more mass traveling down a wave that will hurt alot more than a surfer's body or board. Imagine you are surfing a wave next to your Bro on surf boards, the wave dumps, and you both go flying. You both bump each other but only your legs hit. Not a big deal. Now imagine travelign down a wave with someone in a surf kayak next to you. The wave Dumps. Now when your legs hit the surfer is actually stuck by a boat with a person inside being pushed by large amounts of water.

I will say that in each case the force of the water is hard on the body, but the force on a person attached to a kayak or wave ski can be far more. I have had several tiems where I capsized into a pitching wave and was instantly pinned into the back of the boat. I just waited for the water pressure to stop forcing me to lay backwards.

The bottom line, each surf type is tossed in a wave, and there is a moment of concern if there is disorentation in the wave. So to keep the karma good. Listen to others around you. Paddle away as you think about what was said, but turn around and make good Karma. Let the the people know you sometimes get alittle over zealous and certainly want to give everyone a chance to catch great rides. Shake Hands. Of course not everyone is going to be into this communication. Surfers can be territorial and that is fine.

If you can actually surf the hell out of waves then do so, but if you are out of control go practice in a place without alot of surfers. Next time you go. Show them you have the ability to surf safely. The end result will be less nervousness by the surfer if they see you are in control. I have this feeling some surfers are going to be biased if they are not catching all the awsoem rides you are or if the ego takes over. Just keep the Karma positive, because if something goes down out there, a person with the paddle can help out very quickly.

Keep the Good Vibration on the Water.

Kayak Surfing on the Oregon Coast

Didn't bring the camera to the beach, but it will be my goal next time to get some pics.


I wanted to start off saying that you certainly can surf sea kayaks, but in this video you will notice that the waves are pushing this kayaker and "window shading" the hell out of him. That is not safe and surfers fear being in the way and ultimatly this leaves a bad taste for kayakers near board surfers.

Another day spent at the coast with the red Valley Surf Kayak. Actually had a pretty good day figuring out how to drive the boat on surf. I have discovered two problems that I dont know if I am going to be able to fix. The first problem is that I am to "Fat" for the boat or perhaps to big/tall. The back of the boat is about an inch or two under water and it feels very unstable in the water. This is making the boat not take off very easily and is hard to control if I dont have my paddle in the water. The second problem that I am having is that my hips are not snug into the side of the boat. This is important in surf for a few reasons that I have figured out.

We have a few forces that effect our boat. Speed, angle, arc, and spin momentum. The effect that is important when surfing is "Arcing" through the wave. What we must all learn to start is that no boat goes in a perfect straight line. We need to get our boats moving left and right. To experience this you must first get the kayak surfing on an unbroken surface. Then start to rock the boat back and forth just slightly using your butt and hips, but do this ina controled way. The boat will start to turn left and right with out using the paddle. The faster the rocker the faster the surfing action happens. Simply going straight down a wave face will not always let the boat surf correctly. In this video we can see several different types of turning.



The water is cavatating the bottom of the boat and it simply is not coming alive. What this means is that the water is sticking more to the boat and pulling on the hull while not releasing the kayak. Rock the boat geting it to turn and thus boat glides. This is important so that you dont over use the paddle. Yes, the paddle can help but using the paddle to much can make you a busy paddler. Be busy at looking left and right to see the wave breaking, but you dont always needs to be paddling. Stop for a moment and feel the water rushing under the boat.
You can surf using a rudder stroke followed by a brace, but keep the boat flatter with just a slight edge or "Charc".

This idea is taken from Bill Mattos book Kayak Surfing. Here is a pic of bill surfing. www.billmattos.com



You will notice a few things. First torso rotation. The body is facing the work on the paddle. The kayak is being held flat. The body is balanced over the boat but adding weight to the right side of the boat or the rail.

We call giving your boat edge "charc". You dont want to over "Charc" the boat or the fins will slide out of the green water and the front of the boat will shoot up the wave face and you will be sideways. To bring the stern of the boat back up the wave try doing a stroke on the green water or down wave side to make a correction.

I did want to add that white water boats dont surf on the ocean very well. They make you think they do, but you simply cant carve turns.


If you are around board surfers they will slowly lose respect for white water kayakers thinking that they are surfing. What do you think?

Alittle White Water on the Clackamas

Today I met up with chris for alittle white water kayaking on a local oregon favorite. Met this morning at AlderCreek kayak and Canoe, talked about the game plan, and then headed off to meet again at the river. We decided on the Clackamas river. The run was Fish Creek to Bob's hole, class III. The river was running at just over 1000 cfs which is a great level. This was the third time on this section. The first time some of the guys from the shop thought that I might like it at 6000 cfs. I had never paddled on 5-6 foot standing waves. Most of the waves on this particular day were about two feet.

I wanted to write just for a moment on technique and what I am currently working on.

Been focusing on my strokes and probably the most important part is keeping the blade working in some way while on a rapid or in white water. This goes for sea kayaks or small white water boats.

When ever you are paddling it is important to keep the kayak paddle engaged on the water. This does two things. It keeps the boat speed up and gets your body into action. I also try to work off the front of the boat when surfing and only use the rudder just for a moment. If there is to much pressure on the blade when you are ruddering then you are losing alot of momentum.




The negative side to keeping your paddle in the water to long is that it can easily hit rocks under you in shallow areas or get pushed by the current if you are not ready. The bottom-line. An active paddle keeps the light bulb in your head ON!
If you stop paddling when you are gripping on the paddle shaft... then your light is out!

I have also been playing with the idea of using the paddle to push my boat onto a surging piece of water with a small amount of boat edge way from the feature. The water is able to push under the boat and the paddle in the water gives me support.
When applying pressure to the blade I also engage the same side foot and press into the boat for extra power which stabalizes the stroke. This is very helpful when paddling out through surf at the beach or on boils in the river. Basically, I am pushing the bottom of the boat onto what ever feature might be in front of me.



Do you think the legs are important in moving the boat through the water? DO you forget to use them? This could be part of the reason you feel unstable or tired in the shoulders, back, or arms.

Oregon Coast Surfing

I was suppose to meet one of the older guys at the shop around 6:45am. I jokingly told my girl, Kacie, that I should just sleep in and get there whenever. She asked if I was serious and I laughed. Turns out Shawn, my friend, really did over sleep and didn't meet up with me until 7:30. Kinda funny.

We loaded up the Shawn's Wave Ski and my Surf Kayak. Headed onto the road and we were on our way to meet up with Chris. He was to meet up with us around 9:30 or so.
Even after getting on the road late we arrived just ahead of Chris. This gave us a chance to check out the conditions, relax for a moment, and get ready for the 4ft - 7ft day of glassy rides.

Seriously was a perfect day. I was alittle nervous because this was my third day this summer in this surf kayak. It would also be my first day trying out my new wetsuit made by pro motion in hood river oregon. By the way, kick ass suit!

So, getting out along the jeddy was easy. Sat out beyond the breaking waves and just checked out the scene. Got use to the waves coming in.

Took me about an hour to get up the nerve to ride a wave. Normally I dont get this timid, but a 6foot drop into a wave then carving turns is a big rush.

So, I edge my self up to the zone where the waves started to stand up and I could see the drop. I saw the perfect wave that was about 5-6 feet, double over head in a kayak, and I took off down the face. I could feel the spiral of the wave off to my left as I dropped the right edge of the kayak into the water. This sent me carving hard to the right as the wave was breaking behind me. I looked up and started to see the wave breaking so I put the right edge in alittle deeper, held the paddle on the water, and shot off the top of the wave. Feeling the water rushing under me on the wave was incredible. I had a huge smile on my face surfing the wave, carving a turn, and not getting smashed in the foam pile.

My smile continued as I dropped into a few more good sized waves and started to curve up and then back down the wave.



Had many good rides and got tossed a few other times. I am learning. Trying to get the hang of things. I do realize one important thing.

Just getting out on the water is what really matters.

New BCU 3* assessment July 20th

Cape Disappointment BCU 3* Assessment
www.bcuna.com
Asseccor was Karl Anderson
Observed by Dave White

Group:
Shawn A. (myself)
Amanda
Jason Self
Dave Grahm
Bill

Incoming tide at 3nots.
NW wind at 5-15
4ft. NW Swell

To be taken in force and sea state 3
Actual conditions were force and sea state 4


Started out in Parking lot at Wiakiki Beach.
Talked about weather for the day and what we could expect.
Drove to other side to look and launch from north of north jetty. Karl asked that we let him know one by one if we wanted to launch into the surf or not with a thumbs up or down. I gave him the thumbs up with the three foot surf that I saw.

Bill didnt like what he saw and shook his head no. I kinda peeked... oops

We launched from Wiakiki beach and headed to the end of north jetty. There was no surf to start because of the low tide.

When the group neared the tide race that was forming at the end of the jetty Bill started getting very nervous. He started trembling and he looked very unstable. The group went out into the waves and played in the incoming tide and the wind was blowing NW for perfect conditions. Bills body was becoming very stiff as he was paddling and he kept mentioning to me that he was drifting into the waves.
I looked at Bill and told him to look at the rocks at the jetty. We were sitting just inside the jetty where it was very calm with alittle movement from the waves wrapping around. We both noticed that we were not moving and I told him that I would stay with him as they all practiced rescues. He told me that he had never been on the ocean before and at that moment I was wondering why he wanted to get assessed on his kayaking ability in the ocean. We all turned around and headed back. Karl came back with the group and Bill told him that he was done and wanted to go back. He sent me and part of the group back into the waves for one more time, but I didnt get to do anything except watch amanda get rescued by Jason.

Amanda Dumped Jason over twice as she was hanging onto the stern of his boat and getting a contact tow. We headed back to Wiakiki beach and Dave White took Bill back to the Beach.
At that point the Group played around in the cave that was near by and I had a chance to back deep into the opening. It was very awsome in there.

We then demo'd eskimo bow rescues and pulled each other out of the cave. After this the group paddled east to Dead Man Cove for lunch. We entered one at a time and had lunch. Talked about the 50/90 rule for current speed.

We then had capsize drills off the right side of the cove looking out to the ocean. We capsized one at a time off the cliff face. We did a rescue and had a second person set-up a contact tow to pull us out of the area. I never to swim in the drink, nor did I use my tow belt. I really was not all that concerned and I know I wouldnt have a problem doing what ever he needed me to due.
So all went well and we were in conditions well over the set level, but just by alittle. Things were kept causual by Karl and really the level of paddlers there was well over what was required. It was a great group and very rare to have such a cool group to paddle with.

So, we all passed after landing and going over some easy navigation.

Oh, love the NDK Explorer. What a fantastic boat!