CapeFear, I have that feeling as well when riding a wave. (Forgive my intrusion if you’re not talking about 36 inch bay waves, but 6 foot coastal wave. Hard to tell with you guys. Otherwise end of story). I watch the GPS to guide me. I read similar impressions on forums about the way shallow breakers respond, compared to waves in the channel that seem to be more driven by tidal friction, compared to wind driven waves of short or long intervals. GPS shows me there’s a critical point where you have to catch the building wave as it passes. You start out in a trough between intervals and wallow while the wave builds under you. You have to go from for example, 2.5 mph to the speed of the wave, which may be as high as 8 mph. A wave interval of 4 ft is a different strategy than an 8 feet interval, but I have no idea how to advise about tackling it; just what I observe. Other than it requires a big paddle with high angle plunges, and that’s where I like the leverage of a long paddle. I plant deep and pull for my life. It’s physically taxing. But life is an uphill struggle. When I was stronger, I could hit GPS readings between 7 and 8 mph, and linger there a few seconds before falling off ithe wave into the trench and bobbing to 2.5 mph again. I didn’t have the bracing skills to stabilize the boat. At those speeds, it’s like riding a broom in a tornado. I’d hate to think of my yak tumbling out of control as it explode in a fireball with me in it. Like a motorcycle . . . Stay with the bike or fall clear. It reminds me of hitting the hull speed of the boat. I don’t know for certain, but that’s what I think. I wonder if our narrow stern handicaps the effort by letting the wave curl around the boat. Need to find a surfer dude to set the record straight. Curious if a SOT would be more suited. Calll to SOT drivers who mastered ocean waves or sea kayakers who play in surf. If you’re experience is with big stuff. I don’t want to try it, but would love to hear the details.
I am not even close to a surfer except I was decent at body surfing as a kid.
I have tried to surf my Tarpon to the beach . Once I fell off and it hit me on the head. The other 2 times I got off before it had a chance to whack me.
If I were going to do more, I’d wear a helmet.
Hey, let me know if you have any insight regarding the life and decline of a wave. I’m going on line to learn more. In point of fact, I bought a book on that topic. But only scanned it. Now to find it. Speaking of books, I bought a book on navigation at the same time, entitled Fundamentals of Kayak Navigation by David Burch. I read it cover to cover and overlooked the other book. If anyone has impressions. Good, bad or indifferent I’d like to hear or get a referral for a better one. It cover more than drawing a line between two points: wave generated currents, reading wind, curvature of the earth in judging distances, drift, ranges . . .