[Paddlewise] A Use for Board Boats

Summer is here and so is the plethora of powerboats on my lake. Now, don't
get me wrong, I actually like watching ski and board boats with their
passengers in summer garb (e.g.: mostly unclothed; especially the girls...
hey, I'm old... but I'm not dead) but I'm having a difficult time justifying
their existence in times of expensive gas.

Yesterday I watched a board boat go by with a newbie trying to learn and
noticed that these boats can make HUGE wakes. I mean 5-foot  wakes, folks!!!
The boats have special tanks that the operators can fill to make the wakes
even bigger. After a few minutes of thinking this over, I jumped into the
Coaster and paddled out to see if I could catch a ride.

Just as your tooth stops hurting the moment you enter the dentists office,
so too did the parade of power boats stop as soon as I got mid-lake and
settled down. No boats!! But wait... there was a big black boat with a
telltale rack festooned with various wake boards about 1/4 mile north of me.
They were idling around wasting gas and, worse yet, producing no wake at
all. So I paddled down  toward them in hopes that I'd be in place when they
decided to rev up.

Now some powerboaters are nice to kayakers and they throttle back and go
slow when they see someone paddling. This is fine for your average paddler
but I was actually *trying* to hitch a ride on their wake. They can produce
a big wake but they can't make one big enough to capsize me. So I finally
threw caution to the wind and paddled right up to the board boat and said,
"I'm waiting for your wake here". I got blank looks. "What? No wake?" I
asked. This got a response. "You actually *want* a wake?", they asked me.
"You bet!!!"

With that we hammered out a plan. I'd paddle about 50 yards ahead to give
them time to get the boat to speed and they'd pass close by me and I'd hitch
a ride on their wake. I paddled away furiously and within a few strokes -
faster than I thought - I heard them rev the boat up and come after me. I
took a quick look over my shoulder and here it came about 15 feet to my port
side gaining rapidly. And, oh my god, this thing puts out a gigantic wake.
Well I was committed (no pun intended) now and so as the board boat passed
me (with all the passengers lining the rail to watch this) I turned a bit to
starboard and snuck another look back. A white-frothed breaker was churning
towards me. I paddled furiously as my stern was lifted high and the Coaster
accelerated down the wave and I steered it slightly to port to stay on the
wave.

After about a 50 foot ride I washed off the wave but no matter... there was
another one right behind it... and yet another one right behind that. What a
great ride. Who says you can't have fun on someone else's gasoline?

The board boat driver gave me two more passes but none were as exhilerating
as that first ride. As they drove off toward their launch ramp I waved
goodbye to them and thought that I had finally found a good use for the
powerboats on my lake. The surf was up and it was right off my own dock. I
only hoped my wife was out there with a camera (she wasn't).

I paddled up and down the lake for the next 45 minutes vainly hoping for
another ride half as good as the one that board boat gave me and got only a
few more rides on your average ski boat. Several boaters throttled down to
pass me and I had to give them the "faster" water ski sign before they
caught on and accelerated by me; but still too far away for a good ride on
their puny waves.

Now I'm going to have to search out the natural habitats of boarder boats
and sneak rides on their wakes. A great way to pass an hour of kayaking and
with no long trip to the ocean involved.

I suppose I should feel guilty about having so much fun on his gas......
nawwwwwww.


Craig Jungers
Moses Lake, WA
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