I had a great time teaching at the Garden State Sea Kayaking Symposium last weekend.  Despite Tropical Storm Andrea barreling through Friday night, the weekend was mostly dry on land, but we definitely got wet on the water.

Saturday am was a scaled down version of my “Life on the Edge” course — a “graduate level” session on edging and bracing.  The highlight for me was the unplanned synchronized capsizing of three students, who happened to be in a row.  They all tried the same exercise, and all three went over, like a row of dominoes. Then they all rolled back up with smiles.  Winner!

Saturday afternoon was Surfing I/II, and with the large surf from Andrea later became an advanced surf zone rescue course.  Here’s a key takeaway if you’re starting out in the surf zone.  Often you have to punch through a breaking wave or a wave that’s just about to break.  The ideal is to paddle hard toward the wave, tuck your body low to the deck, almost like the setup for a roll, and push through the wave.  As you push through, your front paddle blade immediately goes to the forward stroke and you keep digging to get through the impact zone.

What most newer kayak surfers do, however, is a very natural reaction.  They push through the wave, then sit up straight, take a second or two to catch their breath, and shake the water from their face.  They’ve lost all momentum, and are now sitting right in the impact zone for the next wave.  Try not to stop after that first (or second or third) wave — just keep digging hard!  Relax, clear your eyes and celebrate on the outside of the impact zone .  Keep paddling until you’re sure you’re past the breakers.  Trust me on this one!

Sunday was a great intro to surfing session in the morning, followed by surfing I in the afternoon.  Great conditions and students who were eager to learn and ready to push themselves.  I look forward to next year!

Someone recently asked me about the feedback I provide to students as part of a private instruction session, so I thought I’d share some observations made after a surf session.  The names have been removed to protect the innocent:

Overall:
I saw a significant improvement in your respective comfort levels, both in how you “addressed” the water, and in your body/boat alignment.  Some of that can likely be attributed to just getting comfortable in a new environment, but I saw more natural reactions to the waves and wind toward the end of the day.

A great example of this for me, and hopefully you’ll recall as well, is the ease in pivoting the boat after coming in on a wave, so you’re quickly facing back out.  At the start of the day, that was typically a series of sweep strokes, not too far on edge, and without a smooth transition from side to side.  By the end of the session you were both generally exiting the whitewater already starting to turn out to sea again, and using more aggressive low brace turns and reverse sweeps to get the bow around.  I saw you both (A in particular), also take off back out without worrying about getting exactly 90-degrees to the wave, knowing you could still punch through and brace (kind of a “forward stroke brace” where you just plant the paddle and let the stern swing around) on the ocean side and let the waves do some of the work for you.
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I will be teaching/coaching at the Garden State Sea Kayak Symposium, with ocean courses at Ocean City, NJ in early June.  It should be a great event, and I look forward to working with some new students and coaches.

Details and registration, here: http://www.tuktupaddles.com/gssks.html

The below series of photos (taken by Drew Trousdell, thanks!) is a good indication of how to avoid a collision when you’re sea kayak surfing.  Drew was confident enough to keep taking photos, rather than taking evasive action, in part because we spend so much time surfing together and have a good feel for what the other will do.

In the first photo, I’m getting sideways to the wave and realize Drew is down-wave, so I start to capsize into the wave in a high-brace.  As I go over, I’ll continue dropping my right elbow to protect my shoulder — you don’t want to leave that arm up high!

You may also notice the boat changes orientation from sideways-to-the-wave to more of a perpendicular alignment.  When you’re side-surfing (right side up or otherwise), shifting your brace toward the stern helps lock the stern into the wave more, and frees the bow to rotate with the path of the wave — I’m doing the same with my “drag” approach.

Note – you can click on the images to see the larger version.

Capsizing into the wave so I don't surf into the cameraman.

In the next series of photos, you’ll see the wave starts to take me along, and I want to avoid side surfing into Drew, so I move from a high-brace position to a diving blade angle to create more drag and hopefully let me fall off the back of the wave/foam.  It’s almost like an underwater draw — I’m hoping to create as much drag as possible.

Here's where I'm really starting to drag the paddle with a diving blade angle.

Converting the diving blade to more of a high brace recovery by dropping my left elbow and letting the paddle get back toward the surface.

Starting to roll up.

I had the unexpected pleasure of cold-weather combat rolling in the surf the other day (yes, in February), and it was a good reminder of the need to practice rolling in the surf.  I took off on a wave and was headed left, when the wave steepened and dumped, before I could get my brace in place.  This happens on sandbar breaks, where the sea floor changes heights quickly.

I didn’t have time to get into any semblance of a setup position and was “windowshaded” over to the right side, and bounced around for several seconds.  My paddling buddy said he couldn’t see the boat in all the whitewater.  When things calmed down, I rolled up, but it took a little time to get my body position sorted out.

The reminder lesson was that it can take some time before you stop bouncing around, and sometimes you just have to ride it out.  But, it’s likely not as much time as it feels like, and you have plenty of air.  Just relax, keep your head tucked close to the boat (or the back deck in this case since the water was pinning me back), and roll up when you’re not bouncing around so much.

I plan to do more practice as the water warms up, just as a good reminder.  Here are a few combat roll practice sessions you can do in the surf.  Remember, don’t do these when there are surfers or others in the water around you, as you’ll be out of control while upside down.

• Get sideways to the wave right after the impact zone, and capsize as the water reaches you.  Work both sides (left side to the wave, right side to the wave). Remember to roll up with your blade on the ocean side.
• Get sideways like above, but don’t capsize before the wave reaches you — capsize as the wave reaches you, capsizing toward the beach.  Remember to tuck your head and start in the setup position at first.  Later you can hold the paddle different ways.
• Line up facing into the waves and capsize as the wave is about to break on your boat — ride out the rough part, roll up and keep paddling through the surf zone.  Do the same thing with the wave coming from behind you as you face the beach (not surfing).
• Finally, on some smaller waves, capsize while you’re surfing forward — you’ll have more momentum going and it adds some degree of difficulty.

Reminder — wear a helmet, do this with a partner nearby, and you should already have a reliable flat-water roll before attempting these.  Warmer water and smaller surf is best.  This is based on East Coast beach breaks, too.