Updated Surf Kayaking Presentation from Canoecopia

Back from Canoecopia 2011, wow! Huge crowds, lots of interest in paddlesports, it was a whirlwind, I don’t think I even got to see half of what I wanted to see, or spoke to everyone I would have liked.

I managed to take a good long look at the approach to this presentation that I started over a year ago. I think the spirit of what I am about, and what this website is about is enthusiasm for the sport, and encouraging people to step outside the box of their normal limits of risk. My first pass at this presentation failed in one respect, inclusion of the largest demographic of paddlers – sea kayakers. I got started in paddlesports with sea kayaking. Like a lot of other people I paddle with, sea kayaking is their passion. Sea kayaking is also a passion of mine, and will continue to be a driving force in what I do, teach and think about. But I also see surf kayaking as a companion to sea kayaking, and that the two can compliment one another, the do not exist outside of one another. My sea kayaking has improved to a great extent because of my surf kayaking, and vice versa.

I hope that this pass at the presentation does a better job of giving my sea kayaking friends a peek at what the excitement, thrills, and the buzz is around surf kayaking.

I’ve mentioned this before, and it is always worth mentioning, that surfing is probably one of those few perfect moments we humans get. We can totally disconnect from life other than the moment of rushing along a wave strapped into a kayak. You can’t think about your job, your dog, or your bills when you’re doing this, it is a singular moment. That’s what it’s about.

Where noted in the presentation, photocredit goes to Ming in Australia, borrowed from our friends KayakSurf.net She takes amazing surf photos, and I hope she is on site again in Santa Cruz for the 2011 Surf Kayak Festival. Second, I forgot to put the slide credit to Tim Mattson, on the slide for wave shape and water depth, which I really regret, I hope he can forgive me.

The link to view the surf kayak presentation is available from my google docs, acct.