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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.

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Fortune smiled on me when I was able to make a trip north from Seattle to paddle Orca Island with Shawna Franklin and Leon Somme, (aka Maurice Leone Somme). Leon and I had spoken on the phone before I arrived in Seattle about the weather conditions. Leon described in dulcet tones while wearing a rosy lens-monacle the temperate clime I would be arriving to enjoy.

Ok-all kidding aside let us say that when I took the ferry from Anacortes to Orca Island, the glass was plummeting. I enjoyed 40-50 degree days for most of the week in Seattle. When I arrived temperatures were dropping into the thirties/twenties. I’m from Michigan, no problem. The forecast kept calling for a legendary snow dump over the entire Seattle area which was causing a lot of worry for most people I encountered. Washington state in the greater Seattle area apparently doesn’t have a lot of snow plows, or salt trucks.

I arrived on the first ferry Friday Morning. I drove around to the north side of the island. The island reminded me of a tree filled version of some of the smaller islands near Ireland. There were horses and sheep grazing in low valleys between small mountains. Mist and rain shrouded these craggy peaks. I had definitely left the bustle of corporate streets and machinations far behind.

I met Shawna and Leon at Body Boat Blade in the small village of East Sound Orca Island. I had a look round the shop and bought some Body Boat Blade apparel to bring home. Leon showed me the charts and the tide tables and offered a few suggestions for my first day’s paddle. Leon and Shawna as good stewards kept asking me what I felt comfortable with, and how I felt about the weather. While I had paddled with them once on textured water it was right after my hernia repair, and therefore I didn’t have much gas in the tank. So they were rightfully cautious about sending me out on the Pacific with no advice.

After an hour or so going over the charts and the tides, I was driving the Body Boat Blade van towards Deer Harbor. I gleefully borrowed a Valley Nordkapp LV for the day. I’d demoed the kayak a few times at symposiums and really liked it, so I was happy to take it for a spin.

The tide was going to ebbing at 1:00 at .5 knots from the North where I intended to paddle. The wind came out of the Northeast in solid gusts building into a more steady gale around 25 knots. I launched at a small marina in Deer Harbor and paddled South. I followed the east part of the sound along steep rocky cliffs and bundles of bull kelp. The wind pushed me along and I enjoyed doing side slips and hanging stern draws to keep myself off the rocks. As I neared the end of the harbor, I rounded the point and then ferried across the channel to Jones Island. I stopped and used the bathrooms at the state park and then hopped back in my boat. I kept moving out and around Jones into a horrific headwind. I dug deep and hard to paddle on towards Reef Island. I made the western tip of Reef Island with some difficulty, and then began to swing back into the harbor. I came back in to the harbor amongst gulls riding high against the wind. I pulled in to the dock and ate a bit of lunch. It had taken me about two and half, three hours to make the trip. It was cold, but obviously the drysuit and the pogies kept me pretty warm. The Nordkapp LV performed really well. The Nordkapp LV does need the skeg in flat water high wind conditions, but it is really excellent. quite fast and very maneuverable. It has some comparable handling capabilities to the Silhouette, but perhaps even more nimble, and alas a little slower.

I drove back to town to drop off the van and go for dinner with Shawna and Leon. We gathered some groceries in town where I learned one of my three most important lessons of the trip.

Lesson One: you CAN judge the quality of the beans from how much liquid is in the can.

Leon and Shawna decided to make chili and I offered to make salsa. Shawna and Leon live in an off the grid undisclosed location near East Sound. Their undisclosed location is really quite beautiful. And their entire lifestyle admirable in that their footprint in life is very minimal. Food and water, and wood for the stove. We got through the door and much to everyone’s amazement and ultimate regret I began chopping all my tomatoes, peppers, and garlic for salsa. I don’t think anyone realized that I would mince so fine when I offered to make salsa. Also I usually make it in a food processor, which mills the vegetables evenly and liquefies the tomatoes to make the taste a little milder. Once it was all made it was quite hot. Everyone kept eating to keep the heat on rather than surrender to the intense heat of the habanero I included. Leon made some excellent chili and salad. Another friend Lisa joined from the mainland right before we ate. The chili and the salad was terrific fare after a cold day on the water. I felt very warm and full as I tucked into my bag.

I was bold enough to ask Shawna and Leon about my November kayaking trip and the leadership questions I raised about the trip. I did get some really good information and guidance about this developing skill (or deficit) area of mine. I will be posting more about this later.

As I woke on the second day, the temperature had dropped again. The wind picked up to around 25-30 knots out of the northeast. Shawna and Lisa wanted to paddle together in slightly more protected waters together. Leon and I agreed to paddle down the western side of the island with the wind to meet up with Shawna and Lisa at the end. I was excited to be able to ride with the wind and see the outside coast of the western end of the island. We drove down to the beach to check the conditions. It was a bright clear cold morning with solid white caps as far as the eye could see. My kind of weather!

We all loaded up and got dressed to paddle. Leon and I dropped off at Kimple Beach and began our paddle. I paddled an NDK Explorer for the second day. I had never paddled one for more than demo, so I thought I would give it a whirl. I have to say I prefer something with less free board. Stable, but not as exciting as the Nordkapp LV. And I would have paid real money to be able to paddle my Nigel Foster Silhouette under those same conditions. We paddled out into the main flow of the wind to catch the best ride and began our downwind hunt for steeper waves. Right as we were leaving Leon pointed out to me a pair of harbor seals I would have surely missed in my determination to head downwind. Right away we started making miles. It was easy going. I was plenty warm already and began to sprint for anything I thought I could surf. It was not as big of a sea state as the Nov 15th trip due to the fetch, but the scenery was gorgeous, the mountains off on Vancouver Island were clearly very snow from last nights cold weather. Their peaks were packed with snow and the trees below were brushed with dusty beards of snow.

Leon as one might expect seemed able to catch just about anything and would stern draw to keep himself from broaching on fast rides. He was paddling an NDK Romany which was a bit nimbler, and would also not get caught up between waves in the trough quite as easily as an Explorer. Side note that Leon let me borrow an Explorer with a skeg that was maybe going to be sold. I remember the words be careful with it. So of course right as I am heading between two rocks I can tell I am not going to make it and that the nose will collide with the sea stack. So I went over to slow myself down, hit my helmet on the shallow bottom and then rolled up to avoid the rock. I don’t think I could afford to ship home a broken NDK Explorer.

I got one or two rides where I would ride up and over the top of the wave in front of me and then down into the trough of the next and just keep going. On one such ride I spotted what I think was a Marbled Murrelet. It dove quickly and then another flew off. Leon came over and gave me a stern lecture about killing protected sea birds with kayaks. I took him seriously for about a minute.

As we rounded the tip of the west side towards Jones Island the tide began to kick in. The .5 knot tide was again ebbing and against the wind. So it sort of made the boat go all sluggish where it was rushing over an especially shallow spot on the bottom. When we broke free we ran into Lisa and Shawna right in time for lunch. We landed on a beach near the northern end of Jones Island. We broke out a great lunch in the lee of the island. Here Leon demonstrated some ballet moves on slippery rocks with a storm cag as a ballet tutu.

Lesson Two: save boiling water for your gloves, pogies, or booties.

It got really cold really quick. As we finished up, I was getting really cold almost immobile so I threw on another layer and hopped in my kayak to get moving. The wind really picked up as we came into Deer Harbor. We managed to get everything all ferried back in the dark and cold with limited difficulty.

I would really recommend heading out to Orca Islands to get some coaching. Shawna and Leon are the best at what they do, and that is Sea Kayak expeditions. I would hasten to add that their experience and coaching is second to none. I’ve seen some questionable coaching in my time paddling, and these two really can demonstrate everything they teach and have dedicated their lives to paddling. I would love to have them come back to WMCKA, but with the economy we’ll see.

When seeing how well Shawna and Leon live without a lot of modern conveniences, I found myself calculating the amount of time I waste on the computer at home. How much do I dork around with this, that, and the other gadget. Certainly there is a convenience factor to consider for electricity and modern conveniences, but I found myself continually asking, what do I really need?

Do I need a brand new Macbook? Do I need a big refrigerator, or a lot of other things-the simple answer is no, I just sort of want them. Where I work there is a lot of focus on mobile devices, gadgets, and computers. It’s an internet advertising agency, it is what it is. To my own detriment from time to time, I find myself getting caught up at times in the gotta have it syndrome too.

As an example does anyone really need an iphone? No not really. Sure they’re cool, but what would I do with it that I don’t get from other devices I already have? Nothing. It’s just convenience. Granted convenience means a lot when you are lost in a big city. But I tend to enjoy getting lost, it’s part of the adventure. Besides with a map and a compass you can get anywhere on earth. iphones aren’t waterproof either!

Seeing two people live a very rich life, off the grid (at home) made me think more about what is important. It’s getting on to the nutty Holiday time in the year where everyone is worried about gifts. With the economy the way it is, I would encourage you to think about what is important? Stuff, or relationships and experiences. I am not a Luddite though which anyone that has met me can tell you. I am just drawing the line in the sand. Make do with the stuff that works. Laura and I are pretty decent for the most part, no cable tv, no fancy cars, no big tv. Just my kayak and bike habit! I think that will be my year end thought to leave you with.

Oh and Lesson three: keep track of your possessions when traveling, use as much of your own gear as possible so you make a visual checklist of everything you came with. I left three or four items in Washington.

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Comedy Skit with Ben Stiller of the Locals Only Surf Beach

I’m not sure how old this skit is, or on which tv show it might have first appeared. Based on the fact that the Malone Brothers are in it, it seems likely it is recent. I’m pretty sure I met these guys on the boardwalk right next to Steamer Lane in Santa Cruz.

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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!

Check out the picasa picture gallery:

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In the three times I’ve kayak surfed in California there’s always been a bad vibe from board surfers. Until you sort of creep out and slowly surf the premium part of the break. You have to show them that you aren’t going to kill them when you wipe out.

There was an interesting article with some editorial comments posted in the “Santa Cruz Sentinel”:http://santacruzlive.com/blogs/surf/2008/03/17/some-discussion-on-surf-kayakers/#comment-128
about the “Surf Kayaking Competition”:http://www.asudoit.com/kayak_fest/ in Santa Cruz.

It sounded like the editorial was fairly balanced, but that the comments got a little out of whack.

For my part as a visitor, I always approach with humility, but if I lived there I am not sure where I would fall on the militant line of rights to surf where I like.

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Surfing hydraulics are indeed the stuff of legends. Once the waves start to top out at 8 feet or so they can do some pretty impressive things. When the waves spill the forces within are quite strong. This is an understatement of Olympian proportions.

The forecast was for 8-10 foot waves with wind at 30 knots, gusting to 35 knots out of the northwest. It was every bit the forecast for once. Rain came down in cool, but painfully side ways sheets. It was so wet it was hard to tell up from down at times. The path on the south side of the pier looked like a runway. Flat with a bit of occasional white water. The rocks that are pushed up against the pier were uncovered in the troughs of waves, meaning a serious amount of water was being displaced during each wave period. I broke out with ease for once.

The wave period appeared to be about 5 seconds. People on the west coast will laugh at this, but it is what we get. I caught some decent, (quick rides) Steep waves where I was able to carve a little before riding onto the back of the next wave. I typically saw something big coming paddled like hell and tried to grab onto green water by high brace ruddering to slow myself down to hang in the power pocket. A couple times I was unceremoniously spat out of the green water by a mountain of hissing white water. But for the most part it seemed pretty benign.

After catching some fun rides I got caught at the bottom of a big wave without any hull speed. As I tried to get up to speed I was drawn to the top and then dumped to the bottom by the wave as it curled and collapsed. Funny but I remember the sensation as I was sucked up, and then dropped down in it’s distinct pieces like I was watching someone else. Then when I rolled up I was surfing backwards, “woohoo!!!!”-I thought, but another wave broke on me, and in the ensuing dynamics I was promptly sucked completely out of the kayak, skirt and all.

I took my paddle and began to swim to my swamped kayak. I got in and paddled it for a few minutes and got it close. Then I got out and swam with my paddle all the way in until I could stand.

Luckily I hadn’t been out further than the pier. Or I could have been in for a long confused swim. Also again, I had a lifejacket, helmet, and drysuit. But my skirt did not hold very well. I’ve been using a touring deck that is neoprene from mountain surf. It’s pretty decent, but not as good as a pure white water skirt obviously. Although I’m not sure any skirt would have held me in.
It was an interesting experience that maybe I can ward off next time with a tougher rand on the skirt. But I’m not sure I’m ready for the seat belt! In my three years of small boat, or surf boat surfing this is the first time it’s happened. And it never happened while sea kayaking other than when I had a crappy nylon skirt when I first started out.

But float bags are on the list too. I’ve delayed on common sense for too long on those.

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This year’s Wind, Waves, and Wine event was moved to Lake Michigan Recreation Area north of Ludington. Blessed with fortune I left work on Friday to arrive at exactly the same time as Henry Davies. We drove over to the beach and quickly assessed that surfing was out, but paddling would happen. We set up camp and then did the monster carry to the beach. Henry and I paddled out into a good 20 knot headwind for over an hour. The wind was coming slightly off the land which made it a little hairy as we proceeded. I made sure to keep angling my bow in towards land as we went in order not to be blown to Wisconsin. After an hour or so of this, we turned around and sailed back with the wind. I caught several long rides with minimal effort. I flew along at a terrific pace spilling foam along either side of the kayak. I edged to control my direction as the Silhouette loves being edged I was having the time of my life. I tried filming a bit of Henry. It came out looking quite flat and not that windy. Justine Curgenven taught me this. It always looks flatter on TV!

The next morning after we figured out who arrived and who didn’t we piled down to the beach with a bunch of the Mega Surf Kayaks. The surf was 2 foot, but the water was too deep off shore for it to break further out. I hopped in the Maverick and caught two decent rides about 50 yards off shore. But the majority of the surfing was in 2 foot of water. I got hung up in two foot of water and had to ditch my paddle and hand roll up. Not pretty. Dotty Kasunic, Monnie Evans, Lori Stegmier, Barb Fishback, Paul Fishback, and Henry Davies all surfed in sea kayaks making runs off shore and riding waves in to the beach. Monnie, who is a beginner performed really well and caught a few rides in to the beach. Joe Deja and I held hope for bigger waves based on the wind direction. So we drove over to Ludington on the surf safari. Much to our displeasure it appeared that the wind was dropping and the waves were smaller. Upon our return we hopped in sea kayaks and went out to practice rescues. I taught the T rescue to Joe. He got back into his own boat pretty quickly. When it came time for Joe to rescue me he had a little difficulty with getting his paddle stowed quickly and holding onto everything. Because we had real conditions it was a great lesson. He let go of my boat for about two seconds to get his paddle stowed and it surfed off. He had to get his paddle un-stowed and paddle after it! From my tentative position of 50 degree Lake Michigan Water; I politely suggested to Joe that he not do that again.

That evening Lori and I whipped together a quesadilla cook-off which I think we will repeat for next year! Lori provided shrimp and a few different types of cheese. I brought up two different types of salsa, a green tomatillo, and a more traditional tomato salsa. Both meandering on the border between hot and medium hot. After dinner we were joined by Brad and Mike from Holland around the fire. Based on the days events most folks winked out early.

I started this event about four years ago never sure if anyone would come. Much to my surprise every year, there have been new people I didn’t know. But each year we keep saying we need to make it later in the year to get real surf. I think I may have to keep that in mind. I think late October may be the time for next year!

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I made the after work foray to South Haven south beach yesterday. The wind was up again, 20-25 knots out of the northwest, gusting to 30 knots. I had the beginnings of a cold, now in full bloom. When I arrived at the beach the tops of the waves were being blown off into furious spray against the silhouette of an angry orange setting sun. A guy in a pickup truck got out before I was on the water. He looked at me and then at Lake Michigan, and then says, “Are you really going out there?” “Yes sir I am.” “Oh good entertainment!” he says and gets back in his truck.

With that in mind, I suited up in my short sleeve drytop and hit the water. I found a rip near the pier that looked like it was a way out. I paddled a bit and then tried to break through a steep four foot clapotis wave that had a pyramid shaped peak. A pit of dread rose in my stomach. I remembered this feeling well from last year where I couldn’t even get the surf boat to the outside of the soup. When it broke, I knew I wasn’t going to make it over. I was thrown nose over tail and then surfed upside down back towards the beach. The water was much colder than just last week. I rolled up right away and was surfing back towards the beach. I beached and then changed into a long sleeve paddle jacket and fleece.

I went back out again. This time I was much more patient when I tried to break out through the soup. I waited through larger sets, paddled through the calms in the rip and then timed my break out through the back of foam piles until I was on the outside. Once on the outside, I caught beautiful glassy rides on spilling 8-10 foot waves. I carved easily in the maverick back and forth, continually finding green water and riding all the way to shore. A mountain of hissing foam falling from the top of the wave chased me all the way down the face of each wave. The fins on the Maverick hummed when I accelerated to top speed, like the rigging of a sailing ship as it comes into the eye of the wind.

I find it interesting that after all this time in storms on Lake Michigan that the soup on the inside is still enough to intimidate me and keep my instincts honed. The water is much more textured than the rivers that I’ve paddled. It was certainly more challenging than the: easy no wind flat water paddle out to the reef in San Diego with Jeff Laxier. _(The waves were much nicer of course in San Diego too)_ Of course the open Pacific with an on shore wind would be far more intimidating.

I somehow manage to overcome that feeling of fear and get on the water to surf. Each time I do overcome that fear, I usually have one or two unbelievable rides on huge waves. Pretty soon I forget how terrifying that paddle out was. I conveniently forget how much of a struggle it was to paddle a small boat into the wind, and I only remember the joy of carving down a steep glassy face with a tumbling mountain of foam chasing me like Bukowski’s “days that run away like horses over the hills.”

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Jason Roon and I headed out to South Haven with the wind roaring in the treetops like an angry lion wanted them to fall over.

We arrived on South Haven north beach to see that the wind had died out almost entirely from the south west. We drove back to the south beach side and found some nice, chest high spillers. Slow peaky waves with a nice frequency. Jason took some nice photos for me, excusing the speedo shot.

I had the Maverick out with increased outfitting. The backband is still not right. Will give it another go tomorrow probably with a new backband.

Check out my “End of Summer Gallery”:http://picasaweb.google.com/kjwikle/EndOfSummerSurf at Picasa.

On a usability note, the gallery software is excellent for those with a PC. If you are looking for a good free way to share photos, give it a whirl.