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Watertech, the Portuguese design company has released a new surf kayak within a length that I would consider worthy of Great Lakes consideration. The Bandit is 7’6″ long and 24.5″ wide, sort of the minimum for our short period steep drops. An IC boat is also a good choice, but the Bandit looks like it would be a sweet ride. The Valley Rush and the Bandit seem to share a lot of shape similarity, which is great, as the Rush is one of the fastest surf boats I’ve ever paddled.

Watertech lists these as the key features:

* Soft Rails on the front for release
* Hard Rails on the rear for speed
* Round pin tail for really fast turns
* Hard double concave hull
* Lot’s of room for the feet and legs
* Large cockpit for easy exit (keyhole)
* Comfort seat and backband
* Rigid seat made in the same composite material as the boat
* Adjustable foam Footrests
* Fixed Future Fins Box (3 fins included)

The Valley Rush has a harder edges on the nose, and has a slight concave hull.

Maybe one day I’ll get to check one out.

Savannah Canoe and Kayak is listed as the sole US Dealer for Watertech. So give Nigel Law a shout and order one up!

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Surf Kayak Carving action in Valley Rush Outerbanks north carolina, originally uploaded by Go Kayak Now.

This was the first day of kayak surfing in the outerbanks. It was great fun to get out in the bright sunshine and carve up a few waves. The shore break was bad, but further out there were some clean 4 foot waves that were great fun. I was struck by how much like lake michigan the outerbanks was. It seemed funny to me to be surfing sloppy shore break in saltwater where dunes followed the horizon as far as the eye could see. Sound familiar, minus the saltwater, pelicans and dolphins?

I did see dolphins on day 2, no photos? One popped right out of a wave I was surfing. It was just like san diego, except this time i knew it wasn’t a great white about to eat me whole.

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Go Kayak Now! Lake Michigan Kayak Surfing May 9th 2009 from Keith Wikle on Vimeo.

Sticky pod with the knuckle mount second take. Great surf day, waves 4-8 feet. Wind was gusting 25-30 knots. Water was warm. I surfed the inside of the South Haven pier to have a wind break. The waves on the outside were much bigger-8 feet. The tops were getting blown down from the wind and making them hard to catch. So I stuck to the smaller 4-5 foot waves on the inside. The video doesn’t give much sense of scale, but you can tell that the waves are coming over the pier a lot which is about 5 feet above the water. My Valley Rush was filling with water at the end of the video, watch where I am bracing whenever I shift my weight. I found the leaks and will be fixing them.

Music is Wolf Parade: I’ll believe in anything.

http://gokayaknow.com

Great fun to get out and grab some waves. Water was warm and the sun came out at the end. Perfect day on the water, leaks in the surf kayak aside. I can’t wait for a day with more sustained waves and a drop-off on the wind. I am really jonesing for another surf day. When you haven’t been out in a while that first look at a major surf zone with a bunch of soup is pretty intimidating. You can tell when I relaxed after the first ride when I smiled a little.

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Surf Kayaking Lake Michigan Sticky Pod Mount from Keith Wikle on Vimeo.

This is actually the first try on the sticky pod mount for the surf kayak. The mount even at the bow cuts out my head. I have a new tripod knuckle that should get my head in the shot, for people that care about such things. It seems funny to me to not have my head in there and you get a very interesting perspective on the way the water interacts with the kayak. It is simply a Pentax Optio W60 turned on and then edited in iMovie.

Surf 2-3 foot Lake Michigan 5-10 knot winds. South Haven South Pier.

Surfing my new Valley Rush. It seems the rush carves very quickly ahead of the foam pile. I am digging it. I just need some real surf.

Music is: Sigur Ros-Inní mér syngur vitleysingur from 2008′s Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust

This is my first surf kayaking video with the sticky pod mount. Good fun. Edited out all the waiting around for a ride. I can’t wait to catch some real surf. I am getting stoked about the valley rush. I could carve really well ahead of the foam to regain the wave. Much faster than the plastic Mega-Maverick!!

In the future I will probably shoot lots of video and only do a best of compilation of the best rides rather than including a lame surf day five minute video. But because I was excited about the sticky-pod I threw it together anyway.

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Kayak Surfing Santa Cruz

I was fortunate enough on my SMX west conference to swindle two days of kayak surfing near Santa Cruz into the mix.

I did some research about where to rent a surf kayak, but then remembered the flippant offer from world surf competitor Sean Morely to give him a call if I wanted to surf. I managed to get a hold of him and he offered to take me out, but it didn’t work out, and he had a class to attend for a new ACA surf instructor certification. So he benevolently lent me a carbon kevlar Valley Rush and a paddle.

Sean gave some advice that Davenport, about 10 Miles north of Santa Cruz would probably be the best place to try as it is more paddle surfer friendly. Laura and I loaded up the surf kayak on our tiny rental car and drove north along California Highway 1. The drive is beautiful with a dramatic coastline and lots of open space unlike a lot of Southern California. We found Davenport Landing quite easily. I walked down the beach and checked out the break. A medium size swell was breaking in a manageable fashion off of some offshore rocks. But the waves came right up to some cliffs and rocks. On the other side of the break and further out, there were some very large faces that appeared to be more dumpy. I was clearly not going to go near that.

Day 1 Davenport Landing

I suited up and headed out. Again, paddling out on flat water is always a treat for a midwestern boy! Once out I was quite cautious because of all the rocks. but once I started catching rides I calmed down a bit. I caught a number of excellent rides and scooted off the back before they crashed into the onshore rocks. Faces were 4-6 feet at most. I managed to only wipe out once or twice. I can say that I had forgotten how awful it is to use a straight shaft white water paddle for rolling, the indexing is very iffy and I felt pretty rushed to get some air a few times.

Day 2 Davenport Landing

This day was far windier than the first. Wind was peaking at about 20 knots. This is more what I am accustomed to kayak surfing on Lake Michigan. The faces were smaller and harder to catch. I still caught some great rides. I even managed to paddle with some other kayak surfers, which is a first for me. And as it turns out fortuitous. I had the bum luck of a dumb swim. The wind and the rip carried me to the far end of the break, and I had to stand cold, tired, and feeling a little stupid on the beach. The surf was not even as big as it had been on Lake Michigan on days when I had stayed in the boat. I keep reminding myself that for a beginning kayak surfer on Great Lakes Surf with no training, maybe I should be more forgiving of my follies. Hopefully I get to make a few more mistakes!

The Valley Rush Surf Kayak

The kayak was excellent! I’ve never surfed such a fast surf craft. Once downwave this boat was unbelievable. It’s far and above the sweetest ride I’ve had yet. The power pocket tail was really helpful in getting a good takeoff. Though it seemed a little loose in the tail on some turns where I got squirted out of the whitewater. I think the fin placement could have used a little adjustment to the back to allow me to grab a little tighter.

Many Thanks to Sean for the opportunity to paddle the Rush!

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