Handle breaking waves without getting hammered

A Massachusetts guy recently strapped a waterproof digital camera to his kayak foredeck to shoot pictures in breaking surf.

The pictures show how to handle large breaking waves in a kayak, especially when the wave breaks on the kayak and threatens a capsize.

If you’ve ever been wary of how to handle breaking waves when landing, check out the photos and the story. 

You’ll want to store all your fishing gear, of course, and ignore that the guy is in a long boat!

Link as of 10/5/06
http://paddlingtravelers.blogspot.com/

A Massachusetts guy recently strapped a waterproof digital camera to his kayak foredeck to shoot pictures in breaking surf.

The pictures show how to handle large breaking waves in a kayak, especially when the wave breaks on the kayak and threatens a capsize.

If you’ve ever been wary of how to handle breaking waves when landing, check out the photos and the story. 

You’ll want to store all your fishing gear, of course, and ignore that the guy is in a long boat!

Link as of 10/5/06
http://paddlingtravelers.blogspot.com/

Nice info. This is good instruction for surfing a wave, but it's not the safest way to get in through surf. It's best to get some speed up, let the wave pass you and break, and then you paddle into shore like mad on the foamy stuff before the next wave breaks. If you do it right, it's like paddling on flat water. If you do it wrong, you'll need to use all your surfing skills. This is the kind of thing that is best to practice without any fishing gear. I took a couple of surf launch-and-land sea kayak classes from Dave at the kayak place on the SC wharf. He's a good teacher.

It's best to get some speed up, let the wave pass you and break, and then you paddle into shore like mad on the foamy stuff before the next wave breaks.

That all depends on the nature of the break. If the break is a short, more dumping break like we often have here in steep NorCal beaches, you are right. However, a typical wave speed is 15 knots or more, so if the break is a longer, curling break you won't be able to stay on the back of the wave and the next break will slam you from behind. And then you'll be surfing whether you want to or not. Some peopel back paddle into those breakers that catch you with mixed success.

So, the universal answer to most questions or any gravity still applies: "it depends". It depends on the depth of the surf zone, the speed of your sprint, your stamina, whether wind is against you, and your boat type. The techniques in thevideo are good to know in case you get 'caught" one day.

Not all kayaks are created equal either.  SOT kayaks tend to have much more of a keel to them than SIS kayaks do, which makes them less able to skid sideways on the face of a wave.  Usually they track straight or roll.

Also my number 1 rule is "when in doubt, bail out!"  You're much better off making a controlled exit voluntarially than riding a big breaker to your inevitable doom.  Either way you get wet, but the risk of injury and damage to your gear (especially if it's only partially stowed) is greatly reduced floating in the water vs flying through the air with kayak and paddle towards the rocks.  A lot of people get rolled in knee deep water and that's pretty sad, just get out and stand up...