Friday, August 27, 2010

how to avoid a surfing accident

Thursdays lessons at 5.30 are the most frustrating for me. Fact is I am supposed to be at work till 6, but how is one supposed to concentrate on work when you know that there is a kayak lesson taking place and your whole being wants to be there.
Yesterday I  hung a sign on the door....gone fishing ... and ran to the beach


Lesson of the day was skulling for support, moving your boat sideways with a vertical stroke, hanging draw and rolling.

The only downside to Thursdays late afternoon session is that on Friday morning  my clothing and equipment is still wet.
 The sea was a bit rougher today, good for rescue practice and surfing 


Now you can see how all those skill come together, moving you boat in position for a fast rescue you need to be able to go in all directions, sometimes forwards, backwards and sideways all at the same time.
Practice practice practice.


And then we played in the waves

Surfing is a lot of fun, but you need to take care. A  kayak swept by a wave crashing into you can cause a lot of damage, so the rule is one kayak to a wave, wear a helmet and be aware of whats going on around you. In no time at all you can be heading for a collision.


  If your instincts have been honed you can roll at the last moment to avoid a crash and in fact that is what should have happened in the above picture. If both had rolled before impact it would have been much better, as it was nothing happened this time.
 Lucky optimists.

5 comments:

hadas said...

All great pictures, but I especially like the first one. 

Silbs said...

Nice photos. Looks like great fun.

Unknown said...

Thanks, Hadas the first one was put there for you. Its always fun in the surf.

2 Krazy Kayakers said...

I am frustrated with weekday lessons too. I also work til 6 but have a 45 min commute on top of that so I can never make it. :(

The surfing looks like a blast! We are going to the Mendocino Coast in California this weekend and hope to give it a try. We "surfed" to the landing beach on one of our last trips. Scott actually got to surf one in. When I went someone started coming up right towards me. Even though I had the "right of way" I thought better of playing chicken so I turned to the side, too much, and ate it. Hopefully next time will go a lot better and we will be able to play out there longer!

Unknown said...

don`t worry, next time is always a bit better, and right to be on the cautious side.