Playing in the Surf Zone at Pillar Point, Half Moon Bay

Feeling somewhat intimidated by the Pacific Ocean, I signed up for a Surf Zone class by California Canoe and Kayak. It's a paddling shop with a number of locations in the Bay Area, including Oakland (about 5 mins from my house) and Half Moon Bay. 

I was one of three students in the class. According to the instructor, the surf was perfect for learning. The class was focused on handling your kayak in the surf zone: launching and landing safely, punching through breaking waves to get out past the surf zone, and side surfing to avoid getting flipped when the waves turn you sideways. I'd practiced most of these things on Lake Ontario and at Sea Kayak Georgia, but the waves on the west coast are different: the waves were more frequent and the beaches are steeper, making the waves break differently. AND I was severely out of practice, so it was a very useful class! 

We paddled out past the breakwater and around to the east where we practiced playing in the surf zone. I swallowed an enormous amount of salt water the first few times I rolled, which made for quite a nauseating afternoon. Once we were completely exhausted from paddling out through and into the surf, we paddled along the breakwater to some bigger waves breaking on the offshore reefs off Pillar Point. Just north of here is where Mavericks breaks. The huge waves only break here for certain long period swell, so of course we weren't attempting to paddle in 25 foot waves that often break here. It was still cool to be so close though... 

I didn't get any great pictures since I was trying to pay attention, but here's one of Pillar Point,  facing NW. You can sort of see the waves breaking in the distance. 

After class we relaxed at the kayaker-friendly yacht club and had a beer while de-briefing the day... Perfect weekend day! 

Date: Sunday, June 24, 2012
Time: 3 hour
Distance: negligible

Rough Riders - Forward Stroke Clinic

After a long drive from NH with an overnight pit stop in Ithaca, I made it to Rochester in time for Thursday night Rough Riders. Due to Big Purple's poor fuel economy when suspended in the air (the fuel economy on the water is infinite!), I was without my boat this weekend. This forced me to continue boat shopping by trying 3 new boats. For this paddle, Heather kindly lent me her beautiful low volume Romany. The deck is a lot lower on this boat than on my Avocet, which made my legs fall asleep. My knees need their space! The Romany also has a much flatter hull (bottom) than my boat.

 

Racing Jeff to the lake. This must have been minutes before his boat nearly fell off the car.

Forward stroke was on the agenda for this week's session. While it may sound simple, the forward stroke is where many otherwise great sea kayakers have trouble. Balancing the correct amount of torso rotation, leg strength, and arm motion is a complex science! Dave had us practice with chunks of PVC pipes on land before heading out to the lake.

Boatloads of sea kayaks. Purple seems to be missing from the spectrum.

  

Although they looked small from shore, the swells were surprisingly large once we got out there.

After splitting into three smaller groups, we headed a ways out into Lake Ontario to avoid the brown murky water from the river. We paddled into the waves head on (paddling northwest), into quartering seas (paddling north), with a stern quartering sea (paddling south), and finally, in following seas (paddling southeast). It's definitely hardest to keep your boat going straight in a stern quartering sea! Dave had us try paddling with our eyes closed to focus on the motions of the forward stroke. Very unnerving in a wavy lake!

 

Sue surfing into shore. Ken on a stand up paddleboard in the background.

 

Sessions never fail to end with a gorgeous sunset.

Rough Riders meets every summer Thursday at 6pm at Durand Eastman Park on Lake Ontario. Go to their website for more info!

Date: Thursday, July 29th

Distance: Negligible - practicing skills!