In a message dated 3/13/2003 9:36:54 AM Eastern Standard Time, KiAyker_at_aol.com writes: > ... most people have more difficulty controlling a kayak going backwards > then they do with one going forwards. I suspect this is mostly because we > don't usually practice going backwards enough to get really proficient at > it. But also because the boat seems to react much more quickly to direction > changes going backwards then forward. ... Ralph C. Hoehn responded: >>>>Except that with respect to the water you're actually going forward even as you're approaching the beach stern first. We're not talking backward surfing here.<<<<<<< I don't see this. You are moving backwards in respect to the land and in respect to the water. How can this not be going backwards. You may get the illusion of going forward through the waves but you can't back in to the beach without going backward through the water. In 1981 or 1982 when I was first learning about how to deal with surf in a sea kayak some of my paddling friends got the idea it would be best to come in backwards so you could see the waves coming and paddle forward through those that might surf you uncontrollably to the beach while doing your own rendition of a lopsided paddlewheel. It was quite painful to watch. They would paddle backwards towards the beach between waves but when a wave came they would paddle hard forward to punch through that wave before again paddling backwards between waves. The waves came pretty often. I think 15 minutes later they were in about the same place, the biggest break zone, they had been when they started paddling forward to punch through the waves. The rest of us had come in forward and been over taken by a wave in the break zone and had to take one big pummeling before being swept in sideways to the beach. When the big wave caught us (or the wave we had been surfing in on at high speed) and finally broke we had to turn the kayak a little to one side so the wave crest would broach us (rather than end flip us) and then we would side surf into shore on that same wave. If they were good at it, he poor guys trying to back into shore had to take dozens, if not hundreds, of hits in the break zone before finally getting in to shore. If they were not so good at it they capsized and washed ashore a lot quicker. We beach-facers could pick our timing to take advantage of the surf beat. The surf beat is the interference pattern between two or more wave trains of different wave-length that result in the often regular pattern of alternating bigger and smaller wave sets). The wave-facers were out there long enough to experience both the smallest and the biggest sets. We who faced our goal could still turn our heads to see that ominous black line grow and grow until it could grow no more and came crashing down on us. Maybe it was cowardly to run from the waves while glancing back over your shoulder as the waves gained on us, but it just seemed the natural thing to do when something that big and powerful was gaining on you. Steph Dutton had perhaps the best method of coming in through really big surf and he perfected it by paddling his British Columbia to Baja California (BC to BC) trip one summer. He proved its advantages a little later when he paddled the entire Oregon coast one winter. A couple of star WW rodeo paddlers started out with him on the winter trip but soon (and probably sensibly) dropped out. Steph went back later and did it solo. Steph's technique was something like this (if I remember correctly). He would run an air tube with a mouthpiece from his mouth down into the middle of his kayak below his well secured spray deck. That way it didn't matter if he was upside down or right side up (or tumbling around disoriented) he still had what he needed most, air. I may be recalling this wrong but I also think he may have used a very small sea anchor to hold his bow or stern into the waves so he couldn't be tumbled in by the big breakers but would be slowed just enough for the anchor to orient his kayak so it would slip through huge breakers even as they were also pushing him toward shore. Matt Broze http://www.marinerkayaks.com *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Ralph C. Hoehn responded: >>>> Except that with respect to the water you're actually going forward even as you're approaching the beach stern first. We're not talking backward surfing here. <<<<<<< In a message dated 3/15/2003 12:21:15 AM Eastern Standard Time, mkayaks_at_oz.net writes: > ... I don't see this. You are moving backwards in respect to the land and in > respect to the water. How can this not be going backwards. You may get the > illusion of going forward through the waves but you can't back in to the > beach without going backward through the water. In 1981 or 1982 when I was > first learning about how to deal with surf in a sea kayak some of my > paddling friends got the idea it would be best to come in backwards so you > could see the waves coming and paddle forward through those that might surf > you uncontrollably to the beach while doing your own rendition of a > lopsided paddlewheel. It was quite painful to watch. ... Matt, I reckon we're talking about different situations here ... the original question by Mark Sanders was clearly not posed on the basis of his intention to embark on the BC-to BC run tomorrow. The next time we both end up in the same piece of water and there is enough surf about I'll show you how I get to the beach without backwards surfing (!) and how I do not go backward through the water even as the top of the wave is carrying me towards the beach; there is no magic trick or illusion about it. The overall approach to the beach is very (!) slow of course, as you point out so extensively, unless you back paddle between breakers (which calls upon a new skill set altogether). Yes, in effect you end up "washed up onto the beach like a piece of flotsam", but under control (for which little skill is required!) all the while ... and under certain circumstances that may be the safest course of action. Let's hark back to the original question, which is all I was answering. I do not advocate approaching every beach backwards in every little ripple of surf under all circumstances by any means. Good enough? Best regards, Ralph Ralph C. Hoehn info_at_FoldingBoatCenter.com www.FoldingBoatCenter.com phone: +1-802-649-2555 -- Ralph phone: +1-603-632-9500 -- Alv (yup, they rhyme) *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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