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Goal Zero Feature: Kayaking the California Coast
11 years ago
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.
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?
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?
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