As a Great Lakes Surf Kayak enthusiast, I am fortunate enough to make it out to California once a year. I usually beg, borrow, or rent a surf kayak and head off on my own to a local break. This year I decided to be a little more organized. I contacted Sean Morley of River and Ocean Kayaking I have had plenty of sea kayaking instruction, but literally no surf kayaking instruction. I’ve never had anyone look at what I was doing to see if I could do it any better. I’ve watched lots of Youtube videos and a few surf videos and then I always watch what boardies are doing when I go out. They tend to have good positioning instincts and are invaluable for good information on where to take off. But good instruction is key to being effective in a shorter amount of time.
Sean Morley, who is an amazing sea kayaker as seen in Justine Curgenven’s This is the Sea II, is also a competitive surf kayaker. Sean was world masters champion in 2007 in the HP (high performance category) in Mundaka of the Basque region of Spain, as well as placing in many other competitions. His wife Gina is also a world reknown surf kayaking champion.
Sean having organized the massively successful Golden Gate Sea Kayak Symposium, only the week before graciously drove down to Davenport Landing to meet me on Saturday morning. After looking at the large, but lumpy waves at Davenport Landing Sean suggested driving down to Moss Landing south of Santa Cruz. Having run the gauntlet at Davenport Landing in 2007, I was not anxious to go back there on a big day to get tossed over the rocks. Little did I know this would happen anyway.
We drove down to Moss Landing. There were at least six other surf kayakers in the parking lot along with a lot of other boardies. Sean got me situated in his Murky Waters Agua Libre. We headed out onto the beach break. Sean gave some great instructions on positioning, and how to use different waves for different purposes. For the wave at Moss landing, Sean advised to stay high on the wave, rather than dropping in to the bottom right away, and to run it down the line until it started to close out and then, in his words, “smack the lip” and pop off the shoulder. It took quite a few missed take-offs, one swim, and a few poor wave selection to get it. And then finally while Sean was in the white water paddling back out, I hit it, dropped in, and rather than dropping down to the bottom of the wave, as is my instinct, I grabbed a wave, hung high near the lip and screamed down the line until it started to close out, I dropped down into a bottom turn and was wiped out by the foam pile, but I had done it. I got a whoo-hoo from Sean. He came over and advised next time when the wave starts to close out to flatten out my hull and accelerate at the crest, in order to fly right off of it.
Here Chris Harvey has the boat presented flat to the wave face despite moving laterally along it, he is using his paddle downwave for support.
This is a difficult concept to grasp without actually seeing it. The general instinct is to hold the rail into the wave face so that the boat has grip, you can use your paddle for support as is shown below. .
This is completely counter intuitive, but the boat when flat will accelerate harder due to more planing surface and less resistance, and it allows the paddler to launch off the lip and get airborne.
This day was full of lessons like this. I would launch off of a wave, wipe out, then get washed in, paddle back out to try again. Sean would offer advice about boat positioning, how to sink the tail for takeoff, bunny hop over foam piles, all sorts of stuff that I had seen, but didn’t know what it was.
We came back after lunch to see a windblown swell with a lot of “juice” in Sean’s words left in it. I tried out Sean’s IC boat the Salsa to limited effectiveness. I had tons of hull speed, but with no fins, you are left to rails, edging and paddle strokes to control your boat. I managed to catch a lot of waves and then wound up surfing backwards on a lot of them. As I edged I usually found myself upside down before I hit the sweet spot on the rail. I really loved that getting off the beach was easier with no fins, but it was a totally different, looser experience to surf an IC boat.
Day 2 began at Davenport Landing. It looked blown out and small from the beach. But the forecast said 6-7 foot swell. Sean and I suited up and paddled out on flat water to the outer part of the break that was closer to the deep water channel. My stomach was clenched in knots knowing that if I had a bad wipeout with a swim, a dashing on the rocks might be on the menu. I surfed way deep and close to the channel so I could shoot left and be out of the path of the waves headed over the table of rock. I caught one or two short rides like this until Sean urged me further towards the point and into deeper water. We waited for quite a while and then Sean would shout “outside” once every few minutes. Outside meaning a larger than average wave was going to breaking right where we would be sitting if we didn’t move it. So I would paddle like hell and then climb a ten foot face praying to God I would make it before it started to curl. I saw Sean dig his tail in and catch one of these monsters and scream along to the outside into deep water.
I plucked up my courage dug in and paddled for one, leaning way forward to weight the bow, following the advice to stay high on the wave rather than dropping way down, I angled my takeoff to the right. I dropped in and screamed right at what seemed like the speed of light, and there just never seemed to be an end to the wave, it just kept spilling and spilling as a mountain of a swell finally closed out behind me. Unluckily the foam pile caught me, and drove my rail under and I wiped out. I rolled up into the foam pile and surfed off into the deep water channel. It was definitely the fastest I’ve had a surf kayak moving on a wave. The power of Pacific swell really can’t be compared to short period slop on Lake Michigan, though it humbles me to say it. As I looked out by the point I could see small mountains of swell crashing in to the rocks. Needless to say I paddled back out to catch another one.
Sean and I paddled a bit further out to the point. I was caught inside on another huge wave, I could do nothing but run with it, so I turned and paddled like hell. Unfortunately the nose of my boat dug in and I was cartwheeling in towards the rocks with wild abandon. I managed to roll up into the foam pile, and then surf laterally off the rocks into deep water.
I caught one more ride like the first, and then paddled back out. Until I heard Sean shout outside again. This time, with a bit of advice I weighted the boat back and then paddled like hell to run with it, the boat managed to stay upright and I was merely surfing wildly out of control but upright. I got my wits about me and began carving right like the dickens away from the cliff wall. I wasn’t going to make it, I was too far inside. I started looking for a good place to bring the boat in without damaging it, I spotted a beach along the cliffs where it looked like I could hike back to the main beach. I dropped a hanging draw as I was surfed in to stay off the rocks and then steered away from the rocks and popped out on the beach. Sean was probably relieved to see me and his boat in one piece when he surfed in to see how I was. We decided to call it a day as the surf wasn’t getting any better. He was probably never happier to see a student roll up and stay in his boat.
I walked away in sheer awe of Sean’s surfing ability. He would drop in on a massive wave drop down the line and the fly off the lip getting air like a kid on a skateboard ramp. He was undisputed master of his domain. He was doing this on small waves as well as large ones. I certainly aspire to one tenth the competence he demonstrates unconsciously. He was gracious with his praise and pointed out quite a few of my weak spots. Hopefully I represented the midwest well. While the Great Lakes certainly doesn’t have massive 13 second period swell, we can surf the waves of our lakes and build our skills within spectrum where we can at least paddle out and catch a wave without disgrace.
I highly recommend heading out to San Francisco for either Surf Kayaking or Sea Kayak Coaching with Sean Morley. His experience with moving water and racing make him an invaluable resource for your paddling. I hope to make it out to the Golden Gate Symposium Next year too!
This is a picture of Sean Morley catching serious air off a wave in a competition
In the spirit of the olympics, now in full swing; I thought I might share the um… wilder side of paddling.
Freestyle canoeing! Freestyle canoeing is essentially the figure skating of paddling. A paddler in costume, (though not always) sets a series of maneuvers to music in a solo canoe on flat water. I believe there is a tandem or couples event as well. Would love to see videos of that. The rules for a sample competition are here, if you are morbidly curious.
There are those that would say any judged competition is not a real sport, there are those that would say if it is set to music and you have to wear tights it must be for sissies, well maybe; but damn if the freak flag isn’t flying high and proud in these videos. I wonder if Justine Curgenven will have freestyle in the final cut of This is Canoeing?...
Editors note: I think I spotted Will Ferrel in the first video, so look out for Blades of Glory II, Freestyle Canoeing.
This video explains why I kayak surf. And this guy must love it even more than I do. After watching what he has to go through to get to the water it makes a 45 minute drive to surf on Lake Michigan look easy. This emboldens me to never take for granted the use of my faculties. This demonstrates to me unequivocally what is and is not possible is purely a mental/spiritual state, and not a factor of physical, or genetic make-up.
Interference a Surf Kayak film was 2 years in the making by Joey Hall of North Carolina. The film is divided into four parts based on two years of surf kayak trips. Joey and the rotating cast of characters including Surf Kayaking Champ Nathan Eades make their way across Spain, Portugal, Morocco, North Carolina, and then Ecuador.
First off, I loved the Moleskin Notebook title sequence. It was an inventive way to start the film and it had a very Wes Anderson/Jean-Pierre Jeunet feel to it.
Overall, the film is a treat to watch. The film features great scenery, great surf, and good footage of a variety of conditions and dynamic surf moves. There were lots of nice airs, bottom turns, top turns, and energetic cutbacks. For those that haven’t seen surf kayaking in any length other than short segments on YouTube, or Vimeo, this film is a must have. The kayak surfing is top notch and gives a great introduction to the sport from some top paddlers.
The film segments in-between surf locations were fun to watch. The scenery, local culture, and interpersonal relationships between Nathan, Joey, and Spence were rising, but in some ways left as unfinished sketches. Perhaps this was intentional. Maybe Joey wanted to veer away from doing a Long Way Round type of buddy road movie. However, I felt teased by that aspect of the film and definitely wanted to have more of that developed. There was a palpable sense of fun watching the young crew struggling to get their rickety van round corners, arguing over sleeping conditions, or cooking on their bar-b-que.
The surfing footage is top notch, each of the locales was set-up adequately to give you a feel of the country and then the break. There were so many great shots of long clean rides along fairly large steep waves that I developed a bit of hatred in my belly for not being able to go surfing immediately afterwards.
A helmet or boat mounted cam was introduced as additional flavor about halfway through the film. I found that footage to be a great addition to the static beach tri-pod shots. I wish there had been more of this type of shot interspersed throughout the film to give point of view shots to the surf footage. It was also great to see some new blood introduced into the film towards the end where a few of the Jersey surf kayak team showed up in ecuador. Their snappy cutbacks and aggressive turns were immediately and stylistically different from Joey, Nathan and Spencer’s more fluid surfing style.
There is no question that this is a great surf kayak film. For those in the sea kayaking crowd who may have seen lots of footage of sea kayaks surfing in tidal races and rapids, you need to see what a surf kayak can really do in steep ocean waves, but watch out you might become as hooked as I have.
Mavericks is the everest of Big Wave surfing. One might even say it is the K2, in that it is a little gnarlier, more technical, and colder than some of the other spots for Big Wave surfing. Mavericks is a paddle in contest which adds another element of cool. Not that I have any objection to tow in surfing. But a paddle in contests seem a little more authentic, in that the board the surfer selects has to be long enough to get up to speed to catch a 50 foot swell, yet small enough to be able to have sharp rails to grab and carve on massive speedy swells. Having driven up to this surf spot on a moderate day, I saw it’s massive potential. But with a 50 foot swell it is really in a league of it’s own. Not to mention that it is in 55 degree water.
I managed to see some of the contest on a live broadcast via the internet. This article from the San Francisco Gate Newspaper had a lot of nice pictures of the event, including the one above in this article.
The Bloyd-Peshkin’s of Have Kayaks Will Travel , wrote this article for Adventure Kayak Magazine. Though I should mention Sharon is the writer in the family, have written an article for the canadian magazine Have Kayaks will travel.
For those of you who don’t know the Bloyd-Peshkins, I will have to introduce you to the family that some refer to as the little people kayak clan of Oak Park.
Sharon, Alec, Jeremy and Hannah (pronounced Haaaannnnaaaagh, she will correct you every time, so get it right!) started coming to WMCKA about 6 years ago. With each successive year they have come back with more and more superhuman kayaking skills. Luckily I can call them friends. And while short, they are mighty!
Alec & Sharon are both certified instructors of one sort or another (BCU/ACA/League of Superhuman Kayakers) as well as being well rounded paddlers in both white water and sea kayaking. Hannah is working on her ACA cert, and Jeremy is actually a bad-ass white water paddler in his own right. Like the rest of us Jeremy is a little bored by flat-water paddling. Mom and Dad buy that kid a surf boat!
Without ruining the article, I can say that from filming rescues with Sharon and Alec last spring, they definitely know their stuff. They have put a lot of thought into variations on this basic, but essential assisted rescue technique.
This looks like it might be fun for about an hour. I am not sure I would want to have my ankles attached to a ski for any sort of wave over about 4 feet, it looks like a great way to break your ankle.
This by the way makes surfing on your bottom look horribly dignified.
This image of different types of breaks does a fairly good job of explaining how different breaks are formed.
The type we see the most often on the Great Lakes is the beach break. Though on the east coast of Lake Michigan we often get sandbars that form in deeper water simulating a bit of the reef break or slab type of break. Though I would never say that they form in quite the same way as they do in the ocean.
Beach Breaks form when the height of wave reaches a depth of roughly half of it’s height. So a beach break can be woefully unreliable in terms of where it will break and how big it will be based on the size of the wave. For instance on a big swell day, a wave could be breaking much farther out than on a day when the swell is smaller. The only way to be able to surf it is to watch it over time, observe other surfers and gauge where the best place is to catch the wave. Beach break waves can vary based on the slope of the bottom from gentle peeling breaks, to steep dumping breaks, though the speed and spacing of swells have a lot to do with the type of break. Surfing a kayak in shallow water at a beach break can often result in pitchpoling, neck-breaker surf conditions. For Michiganders this is par for the course, but for those with more options tread with caution.
Lahinch Reef Break in County Donegal Republic of Ireland
Reef Breaks form where a slab of rock, coral reef, or other undersea bottom feature, (sandbar) forms underwater that happens off shore. Waves at this type of break often are very meaty, powerful and occur in deep water. Bird Rock in San Diego as mentioned in a couple of posts is one such break, as is Mavericks, the big wave site in Northern California in Half Moon bay. Reef breaks often have the tendency to break in a bowl or crescent shape so that it may start to break over a rock at the middle and then wrap around and break at the edges later. I will try to find some video where this occurs. It looks cool as hell on film, but is a little freaky when you are out there grabbing greenwater, and then all of a sudden you’re staring an 8 foot close out in the face. If the reef is particularly shallow this can also make wipeouts horrendous.
Point Breaks are rarer still in the Great Lakes, Steamer Lane is a very famous beach break because of the surf contest. Point breaks are great for using the sheltered side from the swell to capture wrap around waves that are more uniform with clean lines. Depending on the prevailing swell direction and the way the point juts into the ocean these can be great spots. They tend to break in a predictable uniform manner. But if the swell direction changes you can have a pond with nothing to surf which happens from time to time for the Santa Cruz Surf Fest.
I don’t personally have any preference for one or the other of these types of breaks. Point Breaks and Reef Breaks are nice because you typically paddle out on flat water to catch a wave rather than through an intimidating beat down of beach break to catch even one ride. Knowing which type of wave you are surfing and watching how boardies and other paddle surfers are catching waves will give you a lot of intel on how to surf each type of break. Barring that, you will have to head out and do it by trial and error. I usually use landmarks even when I can watch other surfers. I place myself in the same place in the lineup each time using feature on shore, and then another further down the coast line to triangulate my position.
If you have good videos of any of these particular types of breaks you want to share drop me a line.
This hypnotic video of a slab style break, or reef break does a really good job of showing how the power of the ocean essentially comes full stop onto a slab of rock. The board surfers here are doing a pretty decent job of judging where to grab their rides. I was not quite so skillful when I went to San Diego. Bird Rock is a beautiful relatively secret spot to go catch some waves. But it is a beefy, bowl shaped break. We just don’t have anything like this on Lake Michigan. Very cool stuff!
As the kayak pool session has progressed with the students, each of them has become curious about an eskimo roll. We had one dedicated rolling lesson last saturday with 10 students. A few came close to rolling, some were closer than others to getting the concepts.
Rolling, in my opinion is a basic or a gateway skill that allows you to progress on to other skills. Knowing how to right your kayak without fear is a big confidence builder and can really increase your ability to edge, lean and try different strokes.
So here’s the question for instructors: What works for you?
Share it here in the comments, whether it’s traditional style paddle, pawlata style roll, paddle-float training wheels approach or some sort of voodoo doll. I’d love to hear what the approach is for coaches to teaching a really important, but albeit tricky skill.
Students can be afraid of the water, entrapment, or just have general anxiety about working with a coach. How do you work on overcoming these issues with the student?
If you have videos, or photos send them along and I’ll add them.
