Strosaker_at_aol.com wrote: > Whatever happened to just giving a few pointers on the beach and then sending > the kayakers into the surf? Nothing beats learning by trial and error, and > just plain spending time on the water. That works for people who are already savvy about surf. It does not, for folks who are clueless enough they need to "learn" why they need to position themselves on the up-wave side of their yaks. Like you, I grew up in a SoCal beach town, and learned a lot of the stuff Doug was teaching his folks by the age of eight. Even so, I managed to clonk myself with my first surfboard's skeg across the ear, second day I had it, at age 13 -- by coming up too soon. If it had occurred in deep water, I probably would not have survived it. As it was, I staggered up the hill to my parents shop with blood streaming down my neck. Scared the *#_at_$ out of my Mom, but Boy! was I proud of that scar! (Can't find it anymore, dang it!) I think it's OK to steer folks away from the really unnecessary "hard knocks" so they can spend their cranial cushions on more sophisticated hard knocks. They'll get their object lessons in the power of surf soon enough. -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR (poorly self-taught ex-skier, ex-surfer, ex-climber, you name it -- and I have the bruises and breaks to prove it) *************************************************************************** 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 Tue Nov 23 1999 - 18:35:30 PST
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