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' *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
At 09:38 AM 11/29/99 PST, Philip wrote: Doug said: >>A number of board surfers die at long beach from time-to-time. Some years >>are not bad. Philip said: >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? Don't forget the whale-watchers...some have been swamped and drowned. Go for the bigger tour boats - if it ain't got 40 feet of keel, it shouldn't be at sea. Yikes, where does that leave kayakers. As far as surf deaths, they DO happen, unfortunately. I've also heard of surfers taken out by the tide-rips, who have spent the night outside the surf zone, unable to return. One fellow slept comfortably, er sort of, on the kelp beds. Thick wet suits help. Glad you made out not too bad. BTW, my WW kayak the broke almost in two, was a super light duty layup. Plastic is the way to go these days. BC'in Ya Doug Lloyd *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:33:05 PDT