> Last(?) question: I gather drogues are real nice when having to land in > heavy surf. Am I right in assuming a sea anchor would be too big to serve > as a drogue? I am a new kayaker who has just done some surf entry and exit, this morning at Santa Cruz, CA. I saw some experienced people tumbled end over end and since I'm no longer in my 20's (3 times that) I'm not interested in trying that adrenaline rush. I gave up riding Ninja motorcycles for kayaking because I thought maybe I'd used up some of my lifetime allotment of luck by coming off a Motorcycle, twice, at over 100 m.p.h. I'd be very interested in hearing about anoyone's ideas on drogue use for exiting thru' surf (or anything else they for which they are useful). I made it fine this morning by just being patient and picking my moment, but almost messed up and started in at the start of a big set. I backed off just in time or I probably would have bought some sand. It seems that some kind of drogue could be quite helpful if you find yourself facing bigger stuff than you feel competent to handle. In one my prior lives as a dive leader, about 25 years ago, I was paddling a Royak and helped a SCUBA diver who had gotten tangled in the kelp and started hyperventilating. He held on to the back of the Royak and our progress thru' the multiple lines of breakers at Carmel Beach was quite staid and uneventful. We'd pick up and surf 6-10 feet before the wave would run out from under us. The Royak wasn't what I'd call a hot surfer (it's quite possible the problem was me), it always seemed to 'sub', broach and roll on me in any meaningful surf, when unencumbered. With him on the back it really was quite enjoyable and totally stable. He said the ride back was comfy for him and it sure was easier for me than the roll and crash routine, whenever I didn't judge the waves perfectly. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dave Flory, San Jose, CA. dflory_at_earthlink.net ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Speak softly and study Aikido, then you won't need a big stick. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Sat Oct 09 1999 - 19:32:12 PDT
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