“NO SHAME”?
“there’s NO SHAME in turning into the wake”
Well, no - but there is a better way.
Most new paddlers go through this phase - and I see more “experienced” paddlers reflexively doing this as well.
If you have to turn to face each and every one - you cannot maintain course, or pace, or keep your kayak where you want it - and worst of all - are in a constant definsive/fear mode instead of enjoying the ride.
I would urge beginners to work at taking wakes from any and all angles. Only by doing this can you learn they are really nothing to worry about!
More often than not - absolutely no action is required. Just keep paddling. Some forward speed and a blade in the water offers more than enough stability to ride over typical wakes from any angle. Worst ones will just make you turn or slide a bit.
I see paddlers turning to face wakes that I don’t alter course or cadence for. This is not any advanced skill - it’s just learning to trust and use the kayak - and can be learned very quickly/easily by simply trying it.
If boat wakes can actually flip you if you don’t take them head on - you need more practice flipping anyway.
Exceptions being some extreme wakes - and typically in confused and reflected multiple wake situations - not clean single wakes. Beginners should not be in areas with traffic that is large and close enough to create such conditions (meaning ports and busy inlets).
While yes, there is a better way …
… And folks learning to kayak should learn to deal with boat wake, as you point out …
At the same time, beginners should also be encouraged to learn at their own pace … that goes for safety as well. A beginner encountering so much boat wake and of such size that they felt the need to take all head on, and so not be able to maintain a course, is probably in a place they shouldn’t be.
So, IHMO, posts that say to a beginner “boat wake? Yahoo! Just go surf 'em!” needs to be balanced by “but when in doubt, just poke your bow into them” … as well as your message of learn to manage wake so wake dosen’t manage you.
I’ll admit that I’m still intimated by BIG boats bearing down on me at full speed … wake that looks like the Posiden Adventure … I’m taking 35’+ cruisers on the bay. When in doubt, I’ll turn into them… well, this summer, anyway.
Too simple/basic for a drawn out…
... learning curve.
It's quite common for people to take this so called self paced approach - and just use that as a crutch to put things off. In the meantime they ingrain habits that will hamper them indefinitely.
There is a breakthrough moment/realization that comes very quickly when you start pushing/playing with wakes and stop reacting to them as it the were charging Grizzlies or something. Once someone "just paddles" and sees they are still fine - they realize 95% of the drama was self induced - and it's a different world out there.
Short wide boat paddlers will get tossed around more though. That's the price of all that excess primary stability. ;)
My best advice here is to learn a lot of rescue/recovery methods and get proficient with them. This is the quickest shortcut to both confidence - and more importantly - boat control to prevent capsizes in the first place. For sit ins - learn to roll. All the wet exits will provide ample opportunity to practice the other techniques at the same time. For SOTs, deep water remounts - working up to doing them in pretty sloppy conditions. People who can't hop on and off their SOT like in deep water like getting on/off a bike are kidding themselves about it's safety/advantages. Textured water practice will also sort out your gear/outfitting choices on any type!
Boat wakes are also good places to…
Practice rolls, rescues, etc…
Maybe Reading It Wrong…
“If you do get caught with a sideways breaking wave be prepared to throw a hard brace on the opposite side of the wave.”
Generally, one leans and braces into a wave. (Using the underlying, rotating energy that creates a wave to help keep one upright.) Bracing on the other side can lead to a quick flip. In shallow water, tripping over a wrong side brace can result in shoulder damage if the blade smacks into the bottom.
sing
what NOT to do…
…I remember one of my first times out, I retreated to the shore and “beached” parallel to the dreaded wakes…DOH! Had to bail the poor gal out!
RE: Rudeness factor…Just as with drivers on the road, there are rude & courteous power boaters. Sometimes they don’t see you, but when they do, it’s polite to slow down. I usually wave them on but appreciate that courtesy.
All true, but…
As in any sport, people who don’t challenge and push themselves will not progress … that can be unfortunate if the things they do not make progress on keep them from enjoying the sport … can be a real problem if it relates to safety.
Dealing with boat wake can fall into either category. If you don’t gain the confidence to deal with them, your paddling will be self-restricted and perhaps less enjoyable.
BUT there can be a fine line between pushing oneself (or others) along the learning curve, and crossing a line into being unsafe. So, when learning a sport where mistakes can put yourself or others in danger, and death is the possible outcome for ultimate failure, the message has to be balanced: you have to challenge yourself to learn, and somethings have to be learned faster than others, but sometimes you gotta play it safe and catch the next wave.
Now, I’m not talking about out on a nice warm lake with a few speedboats buzzing around, or out on the bay where larger boats are present … maybe you are with other paddles, some of which are very skilled. I’m talking about situations where you may be alone or with other beginners, and boat traffic is a bigger issue, and where if you end up in the water, you could be really endanger your self and others.
Last summer I saw a group of 6 paddlers come out of a cove on Narraganstt Bay. All beginners with one experienced paddler (not a guide or anything). The wind was coming from behind them, so they had no idea of how strong it was (10 mph w\higher gusts, but the way it was blowing it was funneled down the cove) until they got out into the cove mouth. The mouth of the cove, maybe a 1\2 mile or so accross has strong currents when the tide changes, which it was (going out), and it’s a somewhat popular spot for power boats, so you always have to be on the look out.
As they came out, the beginners tried to stay along the shore, but the “expert” gave them the “come on you gotta push yourself” talk, and set his course futher out to “play in the chop”. I was near enough to see the gestures, planning to cross the mouth myself. Well, the wind caught him and quickly pushed him out several hundred feet from his group, when he turned to come back in, now broadside to wind, the tide and wind pushed him further out past the mouth. His friends thought he was having some fun, but I was closer, crossing the mouth of the cove, and could see that he was trying to paddle back against the current and wind and was not making any headway … he did not appear to be having fun.
A few of his friends decided to join him per his earlier statement, and quickly found them selves caught by the wind and tide … first one flipped, then the other, when the hit the chop (about a foot or so but closer to 2 as you moved out). Good thing was they were at the edge of the current, and the way it flows, they were quickly pushed in a loop back towards shore and a pocket on the outside of the cove entrance. The experienced guy saw this, changed course towards them, which put him at angle to the wind and current. Able to make progress now he got there quick, but flipped himself while trying to help one of his friends. The rest of the group came along the shore, protected from the wind, to help. A boat came by and the other two flipped, as well as the experienced guy who was doing a paddle float re-entry. Good thing was they were less than 75 feet frome shore. Bad thing is it’s all boulders… they ended up dragging their boats back around the point back into the cove.
I had crossed the cove at this was developing, came back to help, but got there as they were getting their boats onto the rocks. They were cussing their experienced friend big time … he seemed pretty unhappy about getting his boat all scratched up on the rocks. They were tired and wet, and the wind was making them chilled. Once around the corner back in the cove, they were sheltered from the wind and the sun warmed them up (air temps were in the 70’s).
This is the kind of thing I’m referring to… crosses that line from challenging oneself and others. The experienced guy above turned out to be not that much more experienced than me, and wanted to push himself to “play in the chop”. He pushed his friends to challenge themselves … two did. He could not have helped them if they had ended up further out in the bay given the wind and waves … pure luck brought them back to shore, and after some bumps and bruses (paddlers and boats) all turned out OK.
Well… At Least You Now Know
where the “experienced paddler” really is at. Don’t take anybody’s self description for fact.
This leads back to “Paddling Alone” thread. I have a better idea of what I can handle than what some else can handle. More importantly, how they react when things go south. I don’t assume safety is in with a crowd. Others can just as likely get me into trouble as much as getting me out of trouble.
sing
that’s funny.
We usually have to beg boaters to keep going so we can ride their waves! It’s kind of disappointing when they slow down!!!
If it was a really big boat and a cold day though, I would have issues!
BOAT WAKES
HI
JUST HEAD INTO THEM OR RIDE THEM OUT…IT IS FUN. PLUS IF THE SITUATION IS BAD REPORT THEM LATER. OVERALL, GOOD EXPERIENCE
turn stern and backsurf…
It’s rude to be on the water without
the skills to handle the boat wakes.
It is the absolute height of selfishness to expect other people to slow down because you haven’t taken the time, effort, and/or classes to learn how to handle a kayak.
Our boats are much more sea worthy than any power boat you’ll find. It’s up to you to learn how to use it and not expect somebody else to change what they are doing because you haven’t.
Here’s Something I Like
I find myself a place where the water is shallow enough to stand up and climb back in, but near a center channel chock full boat traffic churning up wa storm, and take the waves every which way, knowing full well that if I flip over, I just stand up, empty the boat, and start over. It’s fun.
Lou
Well said…
... though a bit sad that it needs to be said at all.
Sadder still how many will fail to grasp and apply it even after it has been said, will continue on as is, taking little responsibility for their own safety through BASIC paddling skill development, remain in needless fear of wakes, and continue to see boaters as enemies (same boaters who will be the first to pluck them out in time of need!).
Handling wakes is on the same level on the skills checklist as the ability to getting in/out - and just one notch higher than "picking a pretty color!".
On the other hand, maybe I'm looking at this wrong way - and missing an opportunity. People make $ off of junk to help people get in/out. Maybe I should develop a wake handling aid. For irony's sake I could call it the "Wake-Up! (Here Timmy, Timmy Timmy... )
Do you like slamming up and down?
Turning directly into a wake is safer than being at oblique angle to it, but there is a downside: your kayak might really slam down hard after the wake passes underneath.
When I first started paddling, a more experienced companion saw a medium-sized wake coming towards us and hurriedly told me to turn into it. I had already paddled in wakes of that size before and not had any trouble but he looked so worried I turned into it, and WHAM! OK, so I stayed upright, but I was jarred, and I would not have capsized anyway.
I saw no advantage to having done it his way!
Going at oblique angles gives a much gentler ride. Stay loose and allow the kayak to keep you upright (don’t fight it).
Only you can decide which wakes are “borderline” for you–you’re going to have to experiment a little, starting with the little wakes first.
Have fun!
“Experienced” Guy?
The interesting part is that five people regarded him as such. Tho’ doing the paddle-float thing rather than a wet re-entry and roll up or cowboy in those conditions is a clue…
I always welcome them. Seldom turn into
them. I play in them, have fun, and learn in them.
Unless it is breaking or near so I mos always take them sideways.
:^)
Mick
There are wakes
and then there are WAKES. A power boat, no matter what type, how many people on board, what they drive or where they drive is -responsible- for their wake. That’s the boating rule!
I hear boats yelling at each other all day long because someone is 1) speeding in a clearly marked no wake zone, like a marina, which is illegal 2) Being a fricken asshat and feel the need for speed when handling something with an engine or 3) The person doing the scolding has an unrealistic view that any waterway is actually the small world ride at DisneyLand.
Bottom line…know how to deal with boat wakes, but also realize that there are people out there who are really oblivious or just don’t give a crap. It’s not an acceptable excuse, but a reality.
Location matters, too
I remember one place in AK where we were paddling along a vertical cliff in a somewhat narrow passage.
Suddenly a very unusual boat we had seen docked back in Petersburg came along, moving fast. I say it was unusual because it was long and wide, yet low/aerodynamic. It had many rooms for guests, all on one level. It LOOKED like it could haul @ss, and it was towing another boat (itself large) behind it. When we saw it the second time, it was indeed hauling @ss.
I had a bad feeling about the wake that boat would send out--with us right next to this cliff--and I was right. A wall of green at least 3 ft higher than my head barreled toward us. I turned toward it and paddled HARD directly into it, just trying to make it farther away from the cliff. If I had gotten broached and/or capsized in that size of wake, I doubt I would have survived the ensuing slam against the vertical cliff. Somehow I made it past the huge wake...call it desperation.
The rebounds off the cliff were hard, too. But at least I didn't get slammed into the rock. It may have been "just a wake" but the sheer volume and height coupled with speed was unlike anything I'd encountered anywhere.
Such realization…
… will neither flatten the oncoming wakes, nor turn them back to their source.
Right or wrong is for the after paddle BS sessions. On the water it won’t do a damn thing for you. Easier to just learn to handle the wakes. As other have said - not doing so is both naive and irresponsible.