Re: [Paddlewise] Surfin on the Lake

On Tue, 05 Sep 2000 15:14:10 -0600, Shawn W. Baker wrote:

>A curious side note:  I have seen a lot of powerboats slow down for 
>kayakers, but only on Flathead Lake.  Most other places seem to give
>us a wide berth, but keep the throttle open.  I believe that the 
>Flathead boaters think they're doing kayakers a favor by slowing 
>down, but most planing hull boats kick up a lot more wake at 
>sub-planing speeds.  This actually makes the water more difficult 
>for a novice paddler.  I usually just give 'em all a friendly wave. 
>I don't really care either way, as long as they don't run me down.  
>Comments?
>

When I was a novice, if there wasn't any wind, I welcomed boat wakes, 
as they taught me to deal with less-than-flat water in a fairly 
controlled situation - and to surf.  A little further along, I would 
go to a particular narrow boat channel.  For those of you in Seattle, 
it was the Montlake Cut.  This small channel had steep cement banks, 
and I'd wait for many boats to go back and forth through the cut, 
creating nice little "moguls" (mini-clapotis) to practice in.  I 
called them "Montlake Moguls".  On summer days when there were boats 
going through constantly, I'd spend hours just paddling back and 
forth in the bouncy chaos.  This taught me to relax, and to 
understand a kayak's stability. 

And now?  I encourage the biggest wakes a skipper can manage!  :-)  
There's a small passenger ferry here in Grays Harbor that runs during 
the summer between Ocean Shores and Westport, and the captain is a 
friend of mine.  He knows I love to surf his wake, so whenever he 
sees me close to his route, he'll go at the perfect speed to give me 
the steepest wake possible.  He's a lifesaver on those calm days with 
hardly any swell,  when an occasional surf is nice.  And when it's 
already choppy or with nice wind waves (much of the time), his wakes 
make it all the more interesting.  I know the ferry schedule, so if 
I'm in the vicinity as he's coming by, I set myself up in the perfect 
position to catch his wake for the longest rides.

And speaking of being "run down", I had a wonderful experience 
yesterday of "facing down" (or up, actually) the bow of a gigantic 
cargo ship.  Super Rubin, out of Panama, has been stuck on the bar 
for a few days, waiting for a higher tide, so yesterday, I paddled 
out to it, and around it a few times.  When I was directly in front 
of the bow, I was very impressed.  It was big!  It's a good thing it 
wasn't moving.  Silly thing had a rudder too - humph! - hee hee  ;-)  
It was Labor day, and sunny, so there were a number of fishing boats 
out and about, but the crew of the ship got the biggest kick out of 
seeing me in my bonny wee boaty, checking out their not so wee boaty.

Melissa







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