MBK’s Basics Skills and Surf Zone class

The wife and I went to Monterey this weekend and I took MBK’s Basics Skills and Surf Zone class on Sunday. I recognized Scott (Great Bass 2) from the HMB tournament as one of the 4 students and introduced myself. I mainly wanted to take this class for the surf skills part since I have no experience in the surf and I’m going to the Elk tournament next weekend. I thought about bringing my fishing gear but thought that if I did, I’d be too tempted to fish instead of building my kayaking skills. I could have used one of MBK’s kayaks but decided to bring the Marauder since that’s what I’ll be using.

The first thing I noticed was that the MBK’s kayaks are equipped with knee braces. The instructor gave me a set to use on the Marauder but I didn’t have deck loops in the right spots to use them.

The class is broken down into 2 parts and assumes no previous kayaking experience. The first half begins with the instructor teaching the basic strokes on the beach and going over the capsize recovery. After a short paddle from the beach, everyone gets wet and does a practice wet entry into the kayak. They have you do this without using a paddle leash which really makes it harder when you have to hang on to your paddle. After a little practice with the different paddling strokes, the instructor covered the different types of braces.

Since the class was small, we were ahead of schedule and had a little time to mess around on the kayaks. One of the challenges was to see if anyone could stand up in their kayak. Scott was on a Prowler 15 and managed to get on his feet but couldn’t quite stand up. An older guy managed to fully stand up in a Prowler 13. I couldn’t do it on my first attempt because I couldn’t find a place to put my feet but after some thought, I tried it again facing backwards and I was able to stand up right on the Marauder. The one woman in the group had no intentions of attempting this foolishness

After lunch the second part of the class focuses on surf entries and exits. This was what I was really here for. After a short discussion on the beach of the dynamics of a building wave and how to react to its forces, we were off in search of a practice area. The surf in front of MBK was non-existent but we could see some surf building as we looked north.

After a short paddle, we found some surf with waves in the 1-2’ range. They seemed the ideal size for a newb like me to practice on. The instructor demonstrated a landing and guided us in one at a time. We were instructed to come in at an angle so that we could get the feel of leaning into the wave and bracing against it. I was the first one to come in and as soon as that little wave got next to me, I forgot everything I was supposed to do and went right over … showing the others how not to do it.

On the way out from our first landing, the instructor waded out into the waves and held our kayak in place as we leaned and braced into the waves. This was a very effective way for me to learn. We spent the rest of the class practicing in the surf zone.

The class is setup so you can leave when ever you’ve had enough. Scott brought his fishing gear and was the first to leave and go fishing. A little while later the older gentleman was done and his wife soon followed. The instructor asked what I wanted to do and I was like hell, this is what I came here for … I’m gonna get some more time practicing. I ended up getting 60-90 minutes of one-on-one instruction after everyone else left. It got to the point that I was wishing for larger waves to practice on and even practiced riding waves in backwards.

I did wake up very sore and noticed a few bruises from getting rolled around in the surf but I had a blast and am very glad I took the class. I’m still very nervous about launching and landing from Elk next weekend but at least I have some skills to help me through it.

Oh yeah … gear lost to the surf: None!   

I've taken a few of their classes and am happy for them.

James,

Good on ya for putting in the time and effort to do the course.

I worry about folks who buy and outfit a 'yak and then just launch and hope for the best.

 I capsized a couple months ago about a half mile off Lover's Point on a marginal day when a rogue swell gave me a little push as I was stretched out reaching for my rod holder.  Once back on my kayak, I was really happy to have taken those skills and surf zone classes. 


Randy

I'm curious - how much do they charge for the class? And don't the SOT and SIK kayaks handle differently on the surf?

Mooch--Don't forget about cck in hmb, www.calkayak.com. You're supposed to have taken sk1 and sk2 classes before the surfzone class, but you might persuade them to let you go direct to surfzone.
  All boats are different in breaking waves, but pretty much every big boat gets turned sideways when it breaks. The trick is after it breaks and you're stuck in the foam and you're what they call side surfing. It's counter intuitive to lean into the wave and when you get over that it's easy. Always keep your elbows in and stick the blade in the foam and do what they call "flash your butt to the beach". Some times it might be easier if you have a thigh brace but all you need to do is lean into the wave and you can stroke the paddle back and forth in the foam for more control. It's important to keep your elbow in to prevent injury and also pay attention to when the wave releases you because if you're still leaning after it does, you tip over that way.
  I'll probably go up to Elk if anybody needs any pointers. Tim

Thanks for the tips Tim - IMO: It's always beneficial to take a class. I took a short class with Kayak Connection when I first started - basics of paddling and self rescue but never took a surf class. Although I prefer to land backwards (stearn first) at Linda Mar, it's always good to learn the alternatives since not all beaches break the same way  Having options is always a good thing   

Eskape Kayaking in Santa Cruz is another great place to take surf zone lessons. Ive taken two from Roger Schumann and got some really good practice and info. Roger is absolutely amazing and of course he makes everything look completely effortless. Theres definitely a lot to be learned in the surf zone, and I highly recommend taking at least one class especially newbies,  theres a lot of valuable information to be had. Im hoping to be a little bit braver in my sit on top as opposed to my closed deck, in which I have had numerous carnage episodes, Ill have to post some of my misadventures some day.  No more garage sales on the beach as I can put everything on the inside now. I think timing is the biggest part of being able to be successful in the surf. Sometimes tho its really hard to read what the waves are going to be like and you just gotta go for it. Practice practice practice.

Also Mr Magoo is correct. Having paddled a closed deck for 6 years, basically the technique for launching and landing thru the surf is the same in both a closed deck and a sit on top. Both boats will react pretty much the same in the surf, but with a sit on top, you're not having to pump a bunch of water out of your yak if you capsize, a definite advantage. I crashed onto Monastery beach and I got more beat up by the incoming waves then I did in the actuall crash. My boat filled up with water, which made it extremely heavy. The beach was too steep to pull that much weight up and away from the water. By the time I wrestled my boat over to dump the water out, I would get hammered by another wave and my boat was full of water again.  This process repeated itself about 4 times before I finally was able to make it out of the way of the crashing waves. This was with TWO people trying to get my boat out of there. We were both completely exhausted. 
 You have a little bit more control of a closed deck but I have found the use of leg straps on my sit on top to be extremely helpful.

I'm curious - how much do they charge for the class? And don't the SOT and SIK kayaks handle differently on the surf?

It's $110 for the basics and surf zone. They also have the surf zone by itself for $75. I had originally planned on just doing the surf zone but they expect you to know the different braces which I didn't know. The class is taught with SOT's although they also have a class for SINK's. There is also a surf zone 2 class that goes into more detail on ocean conditions such as rips. I'll probably take that class a little later.

KC also had classes that I was interested in and they were a bit cheaper but the timing didn't work for me.

WTG on taking those classes. I had my first lesson in kayak re-entry about a mile offshore at Fort Ross. I made the mistake of trying to flip my kayak back over by pushing up on it instead of pulling it over from the opposite side. It took me a few times, but I managed to right it. Total time in the water was maybe thirty seconds, but when you're in the water thrashing around it feels like forever.

My second lesson was in a raging current at the Honey Hole in SP Bay. This time I remembered how to flip my yak over and total time in the water couldn't have been more than 15 seconds. Unfortunately my hatch was open this time and luckily Allen had a bilge pump he let me borrow 'cause my kayak was 3/4 full of water.