RE: [Paddlewise] Kayak surfing question

I wrote:

>The water that is aerated is not usually where you are bracing (and that
>water isn't going to cause much trouble if it were). The water that causes
>the trouble is the water lifting up as the wave peaks to break and is still
>peaking up behind the soup as the wave tumbles forward once it has broken.
I
>extend my paddle when faced with steep dumping breakers. Yeah, I extend it
>out the other way away from the breaker and have little more than the blade
>beyond my hand to brace with so I don't hand the surf such a big lever.

Kevin responded:

This is an excellent piece of advice, although don't you think it might
cause the very problem you are trying to alleviate if you are careless and
get windowshaded?

Actually I don't move my hand much on the paddle I just move the paddle away
from the wave. I should have said there is little more than the blade
extending beyond the kayak (not my hand) or where my hand normally is. A
dumping breaker is less likely to windowshade me since it didn't get much of
a lever arm to use. If the wave isn't too big but still a nasty dumper I
hold my paddle and elbow up over the wave so my trunks profile is thinner
and then I throw myself into the wave as it lurches forward so it has less
of my body to use as a lever too and my momentum and thin profile helps me
slice far enough into it so it doesn't smack me down. I don't get window
shaded very often and I can't remember having the problem you speak of. But
since my hands are really on the same position on the paddle and I've just
moved the whole works away from the wave I probably get it recentered before
I hit the water anyway. Since window shading happens so fast its not
something I would notice doing so can't really say for sure. So far lots of
sore muscles under the arm from early improper technique while surfing ocean
breakers but no shoulder dislocations yet.


Matt Broze
http://www.marinerkayaks.com





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