Expedition Kayaks Through Surf
Most sea kayakers seek protected bays, fiords, or inside passages, far from the ravages of pounding surf. And for good reason. A breaking wave can lift a sea kayak, fling it in the air, spin it, flail it, and smash it against a rock all while you are in it! Like most people, I started sea kayaking in inside passages. Even when I ventured to hardscrabble coastlines like the Canadian and Siberian Arctic, I continually sought shelter behind island archipelagos or the pack ice. Yet, I always knew that one day I wanted to take my kayak into the open sea. To live out my dream, I paddled 3,000 miles from Japan to Alaska. (Sea Kayaker, Sept 2001). The coastline offered little shelter and my partner and I kayaked in and out through the surf zone almost daily.

Coming in for a Landing
Imagine that you've been paddling along the coast all day and now you're tired and looking for a place to camp. First, you locate a suitable beach (more about that later). Then you point your boat toward shore and take a deep breath. If you've been using your rudder, as I do when I'm in deep water, you flip it up to avoid bending or breaking it when you hit the beach. You zip your anorak tight, pull the drawstrings on the hood and sprayskirt, put your helmet on and paddle toward the beach.

Deep-water waves are relatively smooth and symmetrical, but closer to shore, the waves develop a steep face. Paddle in, look behind you, and take a few power strokes. If you want to surf the next wave to the beach, you must move about as fast as the wave is moving. If your timing is right, the wave will curl, start to break and lift your stern; you rocket you forward.

When you are surfing, the wind is in your face, foam is curling under your armpits, and you're on top of your game. But remember, if one part of your boat moves with the wave while your bow buries itself in the water in front of the wave, you'll capsize or pitchpole. It's like running down a trail and catching your foot on a root: Your foot stops, your head and shoulders keep going, and you fall down.

If the speed of your boat is matched to the speed of the wave, you'll sit on the wave and race to shore with grace and finesse. But commonly, a kayak tends to accelerate and move down the face of the wave until the bow plunges into the trough. The trick is to slow down and stay on the face of the wave between the trough and the breaking crest. Surfers and play boaters reduce their speed by cutting back and forth on the wave, like a skier carving turns down a slope. Expedition sea kayaks, while they are fast in open water, cannot carve rapid turns on a fast breaking wave.

Sometimes you can slow down with a dragging rudder stroke or with some quick, soft back-paddling. But this technique won't work if the wave is too steep. If you're still moving too fast, sweep or rudder to turn the boat at an angle to the wave face. You'll slow your descent down the wave face and avoid driving tour bow underwater. If the wave has a fast-moving crest it will frequently kick your stern forward until it catches up with the bow, and suddenly your kayak is parallel to the wave. The breaking foam will push the boat sideways, and if you catch the kayak edge closest to the shore, you'll capsize in an instant.

To keep from capsizing, lock your thighs firmly into their braces, cock your hips, and lean your boat, into the foam pile. Brace into the wave: grab the foam pile with your paddle and lean on it. With your boat tilted, the hull will slide across the water and you'll ride the foam pile toward the beach. It may not be elegant, but you won't be swimming.

On the first day of the second season of the Pacific Rim expedition, I paddled toward the beach, fully expecting to catch a wave, veer off to one side and side-surf to the beach. Instead, the wave was so steep that the nose of the kayak dropped straight down and augured into the sand with a thud. The boat catapulted up and over and I landed kersplat, on the sand-on my head. I had to adopt a new technique for steep, close-out breaks. For these conditions I now sprint to catch the wave, and when the bow is clear of the water I immediately crank a monster rudder-stroke, turning my boat onto my strong side. I drop in parallel to the wave crest. When the kayak drops off a wave face, it transfers tremendous force to your shoulder, especially if the kayak is heavily laden. I hold my brace low and tuck my elbow against my ribs to avoid a shoulder dislocation. I lean the boat into the wave and hold my brace and I'll ride sideways to the beach.

Previous page