Surfski Knowledge Base

Larry Goolsby
11/08/16 #20209

72 F, big wind, sunshine, perfect waves, empty gill nets, and election day is half over with. It doesn't get any better than this. Missed you louts that had to work today.
LG

Reivers Dustin
11/08/16 #20210

One of those big days that exceeded expectations. I've seen it do this at low water levels, but today was high water. Tide started to ebb against a steady southerly. wind was a little gusty, sometimes felt like 30mph. It was hard to push to the tunnel. In fact probably not actually worth it. But with others going down you couldn't communicate much so mostly we just stayed the plan. We did two runs upwind to tunnel. The waves were really kapuna. From the tunnel up north to the point they were a little chaotic. Across the Post Point flats the waves got fully organized. The runs were good all across this area. Maybe a little bigger faster out by the buoy, but not worth the penalty of having to beat back upwind towards the shore. Best line was not far offshore right up even with dry dock, then turn and burn back for more.

Second leg was best. Except there was a gill netter near the dry dock to dodge. I tried to jig too hard and took a swim off Marine Park about in there. It was interesting for me because I am used to a paddle leash and have learned to be pretty casual about holding onto my paddle. But I've recently rigged both boats for the stern running line leash. No paddle leash today. So while tipping over a couple of brain cells said, “hold paddle - forget boat”. This dump was one of those slow rollers. I had the boat on the rail, planning to carve a nice line. But there was a contrary wave - so I braced. And braced. Eventually my brace blade was underneath the boat and I was over too far. Plenty of time to resign myself. I hadn't done rough water re entry in a while.

Couple things I got out of this. Although stern leash put the boat downwind, lined up well. As soon as I grabbed middle it would turn broadside very quickly. Not sure if it was the wind, big waves or both. So I had to wrestle the boat hard to avoid broadside re-entry. Probably not worth it. I hear that Steve S. goes in broadside and uses the waves to assist his climb onboard. Because I had to really grip the paddle, it hampered me trying to muscle the boat around. I couldn't keep the stern upwind, so just put the bow into the wind. I got tired. When I got my belly over the seat, it was good to rest like that for a while. LG came over and grabbed the bow for insurance while I was sticking my butt in the air. I don't think he was staring, but you never know.

So afterwards the gang of us stood around talking paddle leashes. There are some ideas worth looking at here. Another thing that came up from Duncan was a safety drill where you break out what can kill you before you go on a mission. In our case for example: broken cable, lost rudder, broken paddle, … From this you generate a plan B, C, D, … Hopefully before the mission. His quote to me was, “Experienced is what you call the guy who did crap wrong and survived”. Or something like that. Kind of a Hendrix thing.

rd

Nicholas Cryder
11/08/16 #20211

Yup. Terrific day. Managed to get out from 2 to 5 tonight, and it was great heading upwind in the lee (there was quite a bit of eastern shove by the evening). But once out in bay, the rides were fast, fun and burley on the red can line. Felt like steady high 20's with a few shoves into the 30's. But I haven't been on the water much, so maybe it was gusting into the Hawaiian 5's with 4 to 6 inch waves? Hawaiians must be very tall.

Top's were blowing off of the waves tonight, and a few gusts made me contemplate the wisdom of a paddle leash. Have never liked the idea of entanglement tho, so have resisted the urge thus far and instead choose to not paddle when it's plus 30 anymore.

As for leashes, tried a stern leash and it's not for me. Much prefer a leg leash and I like to remount beam. It's what the ski want's to do in the waves, and much easier remount for me in because I can keep my paddle in the water for bracing strokes and no waves surprise me. Also seems to be quite a bit faster.

I had a paddle break last year on a downwind, and managed to get back in with half a stick. I do practice paddling with half a paddle at times in my V14 in messy rebounding water, and it's proven to be a really great skill to have in the arsenal. Also a warning that paddles age, shaft locks wear out and tiny stress fractures can compromise your most important tool for balance and movement. Much like the climber's rope, better to replace it on the soft side of a landing.

-Cryder

Reivers Dustin
11/08/16 #20212

This entanglement thing is a nightmare of mine as well. I've done both stern leash (waist strap to a running line on back) plus a paddle leash to front of legs. But that's when it looks really hairy conditions - and that extra line is tickling my brain the whole time. I've done the leash bondage kinky krap and didn't care for it much.

When we first were trying out leashes many of us did paddle to boat with nothing to the body. The thinking is that if you are conscious, you can hold something, either boat or paddle. I did that for years. But first trip to the gorge, my system was rejected. At the time, a part of me was thinking that the race organizer just didn't want the body separated from the boat when the search party finally found something.

It might sound callous, but that's also my thinking about a PFD. The agencies just want to find a body when all fails. For what we do, almost every PFD is a penalty to our technique. Being attached to the boat give a much better flotation and visibility. So I personally rank a leash higher than a PFD. But of course judgement and skill is higher yet. Some would argue that our judgement is suspect if we even learn the sport. Whadatheyknow.

rd