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.