So, you think surf launches and landings can be tough?

Well, I have seen and experienced some tough ones - but then I saw these guys:

Sea Kayaking: A Different Kind of Race

A popular tidal surf wave is at the Skookumchuck Narrows, which is northwest of Vancouver, BC, at the mouth of a long system of fjords.  It gets used more by whitewater kayakers than by sea kayakers.  For example, take a look at:

.

But the wave also gets used by standup paddle boards:



and by sea kayaks:

Wow! Nice videos! I wonder if they can do these tricks with two crab pots mounted at the back

Well, I have seen and experienced some tough ones - but then I saw these guys:

Sea Kayaking: A Different Kind of Race

Very cool! But, I can't understand why they weren't trolling...

This type of kayaking is insane!

Well, I have seen and experienced some tough ones - but then I saw these guys:

Sea Kayaking: A Different Kind of Race

Very cool! But, I can't understand why they weren't trolling...

No pedals?

Earlier in the year at Crabfest I was amazed at how many flipped their kayaks with almost no swell, and only 1-2 foot waves. One very experienced kayaker flipped and lost his mirage drive in the morning. He spent the rest of the day looking but never found it.

One guy flipped and was between the shore and his kayak. He kept getting knocked down when his kayak smacked in to him. He was clearly in trouble so a local guide Spike, and I rushed over to help him but when we arrived he ordered us to go away and not touch anything. Later he came and apologized. I know we all will at least try to help someone in trouble.

In the attached video you can see some who had just flipped, and the other about to flip. The comments in the background are not mine

Check out the following videos, which will help you learn how to paddle a sit-on-top fishing kayak in through surf without getting dumped over. 

The first video gives an excellent explanation of the ways that breaking waves in surf will tend to tip over sea kayaks.  If you have a Mirage Drive kayak, and leave the drive in with the fins sticking down when coming in through surf, If you get surfed forward by a wave, the fins will tend to make your kayak veer to the left or right, and as soon as the kayak veers the fins will catch water sideways, and the wave will instantly tip the kayak over towards shore.  You can avoid this inevitable crash by taking your leashed Mirage Drive out of its well and strapping it down in the cockpit of your kayak.  A less desirable option is to leave the drive in, but push one pedal all of the way forward so the fins are up against the bottom of the kayak. However, this leaves the fins exposed to damage during the excitement of landing.



The next video contains a pretty good short explanation of how to brace into breaking waves so you’ll stay upright while getting pushed sideways towards the shore, which is called side surfing.  This is easier in a sit-inside sea kayak or a whitewater kayak, because the outfitting in those kinds of kayaks helps you control the kayak and raise the side of the kayak which is towards shore.  I’m a long-time whitewater kayaker, so to give myself more control over my sit-on-top kayaks, I have a pair of thigh straps which I can clip in while going in and out through surf.



The next video shows sea kayakers making diagonal runs when surfing green waves, although it doesn’t provide a detailed explanation of how to control a kayak during those runs.  The reason that diagonal runs are desirable when surfing in a sea kayak or sit-on-top kayak is because if you surf at right angles to the wave, the nose of the kayak is likely to spear into the water, and you'll get what us old-school whitewater kayakers called an "endo." Surfing at a diagonal will keep the nose of your kayak from getting buried in the water.



The next video provides a fairly good description of how to use low braces to hold yourself upright in a kayak, or to right a kayak when it’s been partly tipped over:



The next video contains a pretty good short and basic explanation of how to launch and land through surf.  At 2:20, there is a brief shot of a kayaker side surfing on a breaking wave.



The next video shows sea kayakers playing in surf, and illustrates a lot of front surfing and side surfing techniques. The picture you see before running this video is of a sea kayaker getting an endo.



I haven’t yet found a good more detailed explanation of how to side surf a sea kayak or sit-on-top kayak in surf.  If I find one, I’ll post it.  But there's some excellent big-wave front surfing and side surfing by a sea kayaker on the next video.  Just do what that guy does.

Love all this!  it can be done!

I found this early in my learning.  It may have some good tips.

Well, I have seen and experienced some tough ones - but then I saw these guys:

Sea Kayaking: A Different Kind of Race

That video is badass! Those dudes are taking to next level. I love watching the Hurricane Riders. Their vids are amazing. Neptunes Rangers has some awesome ones as well. Thanks man!

Does anyone with a Hobie use thigh straps?  Coming from whitewater kayaking, using hips and thighs to brace/tilt the hull when crossing currents, going through water features etc was critical.  Every whitewater sit-on-top kayak I've seen uses thigh straps and they seem like they'd be extremely useful for surf situations when countering a wave.  Easy to unclip and stow once you're out beyond the breaking waves too.  Just curious. 

Does anyone with a Hobie use thigh straps?  Coming from whitewater kayaking, using hips and thighs to brace/tilt the hull when crossing currents, going through water features etc was critical.  Every whitewater sit-on-top kayak I've seen uses thigh straps and they seem like they'd be extremely useful for surf situations when countering a wave.  Easy to unclip and stow once you're out beyond the breaking waves too.  Just curious.

Yeah. I’ve put on my surfing 4.0 wetsuit one day and put straps on my Outback (no gear; no drive; just kayak).
Joined the surfers at LM. It was fun and I learned tons. Not having gear on the kayak encourages you to experiment and not worry much about capsizing. I will probably do it again this winter with my Revo 16.

Regarding straps, the Outback has enough anchor points, but not so with the Revo. Also, I am not sure I want to use straps when the kayak is loaded with fishing gear. I did find, however, that if I place the drive in a certain way, between my legs, then my knees stick out and can’t move much. This provides more control.

Having launched and landed in LM many times, the most important lessons I learned as a beginner were to take as little gear as possible, pack it inside the kayak if possible for launch and landing, stop before I land and do a mental checklist (while observing the waves and the sets, and how water back flows), watch my back while landing, and be ready to jump if the kayak is about to flip (I never had water higher than my waist doing so).

Does anyone with a Hobie use thigh straps?  Coming from whitewater kayaking, using hips and thighs to brace/tilt the hull when crossing currents, going through water features etc was critical.  Every whitewater sit-on-top kayak I've seen uses thigh straps and they seem like they'd be extremely useful for surf situations when countering a wave.  Easy to unclip and stow once you're out beyond the breaking waves too.  Just curious.

I've been whitewater kayaking since 1985, and I have both of my sit-on-top fishing kayaks (a Hobie Revolution and an Ocean Kayak Trident) set up with attachment points for thigh straps.  They greatly increase the control I have over those kayaks when going in and out through surf.

Love all this!  it can be done!

I found this early in my learning.  It may have some good tips.

This is a really good one Eddie. It applies to sit on top kayaks, and the guide is using a strap. I think that when he broaches, he always leans back and tilts the edge of the kayak into the wave. He is also using a stoke, which looks like broaching (but it’s not), called stern rudder if I’m not mistaken, to control the direction of the kayak when it’s being pushed by waves.

Love all this!  it can be done!

I found this early in my learning.  It may have some good tips.

This is a really good one Eddie. It applies to sit on top kayaks, and the guide is using a strap. I think that when he broaches, he always leans back and tilts the edge of the kayak into the wave. He is also using a stoke, which looks like broaching (but it’s not), called stern rudder if I’m not mistaken, to control the direction of the kayak when it’s being pushed by waves.

At what point in the video are you noticing this "stoke" move?, stern rudder...