Did I just see what I saw? The surfing boat comes over the crest, the boat paddling out doesn’t even see him until he crests and is a sitting duck with no momentum, the surfing boat sees him and instantly dumps it to slow down but the wave still carries him into the boat paddling out, then the boat paddling out dumps it to roll underneath the surfing kayak that is being pushed horizontally by the wave into him. Then everybody goes their merry way like nothing happened….What?
No harm, no foul. The alternative outcome would be this (kudos/appreciation for folks who shared this long but informative video on YouTube):
-sing
The previous video was like a ballet, the guy paddling out being able to roll under the kayak barging at him being pushed by the wave out of control was pretty slick. Looking at that and the video of your friend, the young woman , dumping her boat to avoid injury leads me to believe if I ever got into surfing, I would not do it in crowded conditions. You do not know the skill level and ethics of the other paddlers, too big of a risk.
Now in this last video, the second paddler coming in to help or to see what is going on, has got to br in the wrong or used the wrong technique. From looking at this, there is no way you can surf unless you have a bomb proof roll, I do not see how you could do it.
That Celtic paddle looked nice. In general, are there distinct advantages to the Bent Shaft or it does not offer that much benefit for the extra money?
My philosophy is: if it’s so rough that it forces me out of the kayak, it’s probably too rough to get back in.
I haven’t figured in the additional danger of other kayaks coming to help.
When paddling (long distance, surf, or whatever), I always try to keep an amount of ‘reserve’, for unforeseen events. If flipped in surf, I’ll stay upside down, trying to roll back up to (just about) the end.
yes
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I don’t think logic enters into the equation with surfers.
Jenny posted out a message related to learning to turtle to avoid injury. Posting in full here, as i seems relevant to the conversation.
The Cowells video is the same as was posted before.
— start quote —
I would like to share two recent kayak surfing collisions that happened to me. The first one occurred about two weeks ago while I was surfing at Mushroom Rock. My right shoulder was hit by the bow of a kayak at full speed, and it hurt for a few days. After the first collision, I read a bunch of kayak surfing safety and etiquette articles, which helped me successfully dodge the second collision.
In both videos, the people who collided with me were very experienced kayakers (including a World Surf Kayaking champion). But it still happened. I hope that by sharing my videos and lessons, fellow kayakers will be able to avoid boat collisions and respond correctly during surfing.
2025-3-19 Mushroom Rock - Half Moon Bay
This was my first ride of the day. I flipped first (which should have been avoided). After I rolled up, I saw the next wave coming and noticed my friend surfing toward me. I should have capsized and dodged when I saw the boat, but I hoped he would steer away instead of hitting me, so I didn’t flip. My right shoulder was hit quite hard. I continued surfing for 1.5 hours after the incident, but my shoulder kept hurting the entire time I was on the water. Luckily, I recovered quickly and was able to compete in the Santa Cruz Paddlefest just 10 days after the incident.
2025-3-30 Cowells - Santa Cruz Paddlefest
Santa Cruz Paddlefest 2025, Sunday, Boat Collision during padding out
This happened on the third day of the Santa Cruz Paddlefest. While I was paddling out to my heat, I was involved in a boat collision. This time, I reacted quickly enough to avoid any physical injuries. However, the impact resulted in a broken fin and a cracked fin box. If I hadn’t reacted correctly or respond fast enough, I might not have been able to compete in my heat, which was just 15 minutes after the incident. Surfing is dangerous!!
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Quick learner. The underlying skills and ability to adapt served her well. Kudos.
-sing
She really could have been hurt in that first video, she is very lucky. It seemed like the blue boat had plenty of enough time and good visibility to maneuver away, what happened? She said it was her friend so I guess there ate no hard feelings.
“Turtling” is also a great move when confronting a big breaking lip that one is not sure of being able to paddle over/through. If there are surfers directly behind me, I dont want to get surfed backwards into them. I’ll turtle and my body acts as a sea anchor whIch inhibits an uncontrolled backsurf of any distance. If nothing else, I know fins are pointed up and I am not going to slice and dice the surfer behind me.
-sing
Turtle practice - on the paddle out, roll over just before an oncoming wave crest/lip hits. The smaller wave will barely grab the rolled over boat and paddler. On a bigger wave break, the “turtled” paddler will feel the boat getting caught by the foam pile and back surfing for a short distance before the foam pile lets go. Once free of the pile, paddler simply rolls up and continues the paddle out.
Practicing in smaller waves will allow one to perform more automatically when the turtle move is needed for a bigger wave.
-sing
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What are the Wiffle Balls?
It is interesting watching you and Jen roll so effortlessly even in split second emergencies and I would kill myself trying to roll in a calm lake.
When a paddler takes off, they are down low on the wave A person in the trough waiting for the next wave i also down low. Neither can see each other over the wave the first person is riding.
The second person gets on the second wave, but then found that the first person flipped and is now coming off the back off her wave. Not enough time to avoid.
First, let’s see if we are talking about the same video. The video I am referring to is the link “Kayak Surfing Bad Collision “ at post #25.
Yes, the video at Mushroom Rock, not the one from the Santa Cruz competition).
Here is a breakdown as I see it.
Time 0 - She takes off at video time 3 seconds (which we will call time 0, so we can count seconds), at which point she gets out of sight to anyone behind her (she is on the face shore side, where the next paddler (blue boat) is looking at the ocean side of the same wave).
Time 5 - She capsizes, which stops her forward momentum. She is still out of sight of blue boat.
Time 7-9 - the wave finally passes her as she is rolling up, so she will be on the backside of the wave and finally visible to blue boat. So at least 7 seconds after taking off.
I am guessing the wave period was 8-10 seconds, which is normal for the area. One person rides, and the next has 8-10 seconds to get in position and determine if it is good to go (wave is good, run is clear, etc.). The closer to take off, the more you are looking back to read the wave and takeoff time/place/speed, and less looking forward.
Time 7 is the earliest she will be seen by blue boat. Blue boat is already in position and starting their run at that point, and probably focusing on the wave coming behind them.
Time 11 - we first see blue boat is on the next wave. Shoulder coming in from both sides means there isn’t an exit.
Time 14 - blue boat is sideways already and bearing down on her. It is possible they had a bad set up and were going to go sideways no matter what. Also possible blue boat purposely turned to try to stop their ride to avoid Jenny (which inadvertently caused them to aim at Jenny - there is not a lot of control in a sideways run like this).
Is what happened good, definitely not. Could blue boat have tried something else (turtling, etc.) - possibly, but not clear it would have worked and they’d be getting some level of beating. And you have to make the decision in seconds.
I personally am pretty conservative when surfing - generally not taking the wave right behind someone (I shoot for the wave 2 after the prior rider) if I will be in the same line. But this means giving up on half the waves, and each set generally only has 3-6 waves, so there often aren’t many catch-able waves.
I used to surf mushroom rock a fair amount, but have shied away from it more as I age. I would not have been trying to ride that wave, but the area is pretty good for people learning. The waves dumps you out in deep water which is somewhat protected, so pretty good spot for self or assisted rescue if needed. Not dumping you on to rocks. So not uncommon to have people pushing their skill level there (and perhaps blue boat was). Pretty forgiving area - about all there is to hit is other boaters. Don’t do that and wear thermal protection for the cold water, and the risks are minimal.
Strictly as an outside observer, with nowhere near your’s or @sing ‘s surf experience or your intimate knowledge of Mushroom Rock, on the surface after watching the sequence leading up to the collision 7 or 8 times it appears to me the Blue Boat took the wrong line after failing to dump at the right time. Again, to me, it appears he went left trying to pass on the left side and as a result got turned sideways, lost all control of the boat and the wave drove him into Jen. It seems if he would have dumped very early at the very first sighting of Jen or pushed the boat hard to the right the wave would have pushed him past Jen. But that is to the totally untrained eye. But after watching that sequence repeatedly she was very lucky, she could have been severely injured in that mishap or killed and I don’t thing that is a dramatization.
Seeing how easily things can get out of control, if I got into surfing I would never surf at a crowded venue, too many uncontrollable factors and your practice of not taking a following wave is best practice.
Edit: The best part is at the end when he asks her I believe if she is okay and at first she doesn’t hear him and says “What?”, then he asks again if she is okay and she says, “Nooooo.”