Re: [Paddlewise] Long Beach, BC

Doug wrote:
>Long Beach is where most of us head for "real" surfing - though not
>specifically within the parameters you wanted description of. A six hour
>drive or so is needed. Many mainlander *kayak surfers* get the ferry to
>Nanaimo on the East coast of the island, and then drive over to the west
>side. Like the Washington coast, miles of sandy beach gently shelve out to
>seaward, generating  huge waves even from smaller swell. Wave periods tend
>to be around 9 seconds.

I was there this week-end with a bunch of fellow BC mainlanders. On Friday, 
we warmed up in the two-to-three footers at near by Mckenzie Bay. Saturday 
we went to Long Beach. Typical waves were five to six feet. I had a 
confidence-sapping experience on my second return through the surf zone: I 
was ambushed from behind by what seemed to be an eight to ten footer (it's 
hard to be objective about these things when you see them looming over you). 
I survived it by side-surfing with a brace, but I wound in the foamy tunnel 
of it, where I could not breathe. It collapsed just as I was starting to 
inhale water. A second, smaller wave attempted to finish the job its bigger 
brother had begun. I side braced on it for a few seconds, before it surfed 
me backwards and flipped me. Since I had never really recovered my breath 
from the first wave, I had no air reserve to set up a roll; to my chagrin, I 
had to wet-exit, sputtering badly. The rest of the week-end I played with 
the little boys (three to five feet). I did not get knocked down again. This 
could be interpreted as a success; my braces were good. Or you could see it 
as I do: if I wasn't getting knocked over, I wasn't pushing my limits. I see 
numerous refresher pool and open water sessions in my future.

>On a big winter blow, it breaks a mile out to sea.

There was a gale on Saturday night, and this was exactly the situation at 
Long Beach on Sunday. NOBODY, neither boarder, or kayaker, was in the water.


>A number of board surfers die at long beach from time-to-time. Some years
>are not bad.

I'd heard of many beach-strollers getting grabbed by large waves and sucked 
out; I hadn't heard specifically of any boarder/kayaker deaths. But maybe, a 
la that small town in the Jaws movie, they don't publisize these deaths for 
fear of scaring the tourists away?

Philip Torrens
N49°16' W123°06'

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