[Paddlewise] surfing and hard chines

I think that the recent baseless criticism of hard chined boats has been
adequately refuted.  However I would like add that hard chines boats are
much more likely to surf better than rounded chine boats.  Those who know
me, know that I spend most of my kayak time in the river or in the ocean
surf, and that surfing is "king".  It is in fact, the most noble endeavor
imaginable in any kayak.

So I consider myself an expert on surfing, and have surfed a number of
different sea kayak designs on wind waves.  I have noticed some general
observations...

Hard chine boats plane up "higher" than soft chine boats.  This allows the
paddler more control of the boat by edging.  In fact, I was quite amazed
last summer when surfing my hard chined Pygmy Arctic Tern -- I was able to
correct a large broach by edging into the broach and by placing a hard
rudder on the opposite side.  This kind of contortion is very hard to master
outside of a river environment, but was surprisingly effective.  I really
didn't expect a 17' long boat to be able to "escape" a broach.  It was
because the flat bottom and sharp chines allowed the boat plane up and
"spin" horizontally in the much the same way as a flat-bottom rodeo kayak
would spin.

Incidently, the last time I capsized unintentionally, was while surfing a CD
Gulfstream in the same conditions (four feet wind waves).  The boat
broached, and I tried the same corrective technique.  But the (very) round
chines were sucked into the wave and the wave won.  I capsized... the fact
that this boat was designed by none other than Derek Hutchison must be
purely coincidental ;)

Matt Broze will also tell you that hard chines are more likely to resist the
broach in the first place.  I think he is right, but paddler skill is a much
more important determining factor in resisting a broach. Surfing short,
steep river waves in a river kayak is the absolute best way to learn how to
resist a broach.  Wind waves have more similarity to river waves than they
do to ocean shorebreak waves.

My summation is this... if you like to surf, hard chines are the best!

Kevin Whilden


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