@NateHanson said:
Perhaps I missed this in one of the earlier posts, but I disagree with the general idea that getting side-surfed is a good tactic for landing in surf. As you’ve found, you lose a lot of control once you’re getting surfed, so the fundamental key to a safe surf landing is avoiding getting surfed in the first place (side-surfed or otherwise).
If the surf-class you were participating in didn’t teach landing in surf by paddling in on the backs of waves (and never getting surfed out of control, then I suggest you find a new instructor.
Interesting. All surf classes I have taken or assisted with (I generally don’t lead these) teach how to side surf, as the chance of being able to ride the back of a wave every time is pretty slim. When you miss the back, your next option likely will involve side surfing, so it is thought that it would be good to know how to do it.
Riding in on the back of a wave, or surfing straight in works great, where and when it works. All beaches are different. While it’s great to have a preferred method of landing in surf, the conditions and beach topography often dictate what works or what doesn’t. Riding the back of a wave works great in spilling surf but not so well in all conditions, especially large violent dumpers, at least in my experience. That said, you have to practice all the options, and sometimes you have to change your strategy at a moment’s notice when things aren’t going as planned.
I found it interesting that Freya started landing in river mouths on her Australia trip, to avoid harsh “crash landings”, after getting a few good thrashings, a good example of staying flexible and changing methods to suit the situation.
Side surfing is something to avoid if there are others in the water, but there are situations where it is the best option available. Ensure the way to shore is clear and then enter the surf zone and dumping surf is often better side surfed in conditions where one cannot ride in on the backs waves. I’ve seen numerous instances where the waves build and collapse in just a few feet. There is no “back” to speak of, just wave, collapse, wave, with only a few seconds between. In this case, you go in with decent speed, broach before the bow purls, and ride the bump to shore. It isn’t elegant, but it is very doable in most conditions where you have a regular steep beach and not a rock garden. If you are in strong dumping surf in a rock garden and must go to shore, there are few good options unless you practice in that sh** often.
The OP asked about whether to tuck the paddle on the shore or surf side. Generally, I would place the paddle in line with the hull on the side where the capsize occurred. If, for example, you capsize into the wave, you want the paddle to along the hull on that side. Ideally, with the blade offering least purchase to the wave force (vertical to the side of the hull, for example). This is more complicated with a feathered blade, but you probably wish the power face of the blade to not grab water.
I don’t think I’ve had a capsize to the shore side of the wave once I’ve actually planted my stern rudder and am riding the face of the wave. This may have happened years ago when I was just learning, but I don’t recall that. If it did happen, I would just tuck the stern end of the paddle back along the boat. Since the wave force would all be on the ocean side, I doubt there would be much difficulty making that adjustment. I did have a novice I was teaching to brace do so on the wrong side of the boat and the speed of the capsize was truly impressive. He was underwater before I could even say, “No,” much less, “brace on the wave side.” He was uninjured, but I have no idea what he did with the paddle.
In predictable surf, riding a wave in to shore is not all that difficult, but often requires altering stern rudder from side to side to maintain a good angle of attack toward the beach. In these conditions, it is definitely preferable not to side surf. Learning to recognize a wave that one can handle is a skill set that I recommend developing (and yes, you will make some mistakes making that assessment - this is part of the fun…er…learning process.
On getting in via side-surfing. I was one who suggested that as an option, and that was based on my own experience the first several times I was in surf. Especially the first time, when Ma Nature handed a beginner class conditions well beyond that. We were on a beach where a couple foot or so waves are fairly predictable, to see them coming in four plus feet a closely spaced instead. A hurricane was coming thru offshore over that weekend. I found that side surfing was something I could do and at least stay in the boat rather than it getting loose every time. And I could still capsize to slow things down. Closer into shore I could turn the boat around and head out again without a capsize, at least by the afternoon.
I agree it is not ideal. But if you are talking about fundamentally staying in the boat rather than being outside of it, I found it to be one of the more reliable ways to manage that when conditions and my skills were no match for each other.
I think there is a big distinction between a person “getting surfed” and surfing. The first, just based on your intentions, is out of control. The second is not.
When someone comes in through something a little more intense, trying not to get surfed, they often times get surfed. And when you “get surfed”, pretty much everything points to dropping into a wave too late. If your surfing experience is “getting surfed”, you’re probably not having good, controlled surfing experiences.
When someone comes in through something a little more intense, intent on surfing in, they do not “get surfed”.
Sounds a little romantic. But it’s not all romance. There is real control to be executed. I don’t ever want to get surfed. I want to harness and ride the wave. Sure I’ll get bucked now and then, but the rewards of learning some control over that ride have been well worth it.
So while I could agree with “the fundamental key to a safe surf landing is avoiding getting surfed”, in that if you “get surfed” - you’re not executing the control you had hoped for, I do not agree that that fundamental key to a safe surf landing is not surfing. The less likely “avoiding getting surfed” becomes, the more likely I’m safer surfing in. And if I’m in good control surfing the waves of the day, I may be less in control trying to execute other options.
@CapeFear You said a part I missed. By the afternoon of that first day, when I was coming in sideways I was also coming in on the wave and a path that I chose. I would get out to a point where I could hold a position and wait until I saw that there were no paddlers between myself and the beach. There was some waiting involved, it was messy. I also found lines where I was not in the biggest of the breaking stuff . Then I came in mostly sideways because that I could do without swimming.
It wasn’t that I didn’t try to surf properly, just that I had very little success at maintaining the direction I wanted on the wave and chose not to resist too much the tendency to turn sideways very quickly after starting.
In deference to the instructors, they had their hands full making sure paddlers who stayed closer into shore or had greater ambition than me were not running into each other or loose boats. The weather got progressively worse as the day went on and it was cold and raw. We shut down earlier than scheduled because tiredness was becoming the biggest risk factor.
So yeah I was not doing proper surfing. But there is a point where you have to take what you can do without needing a rescue every five minutes. After a capsize-laden start to the day, I found a rhythm with the side surfing that I could execute reliably, get some mileage and learn a few things.
To be fair, I was taking a surfing class, not a surf class. I didn’t think about the distinction until afterwards (and still would have taken the class anyway) but my main interest is getting in through surf and not necessarily recreational surfing, although obviously there is some overlap. Oh, and also the waves were chaotic and dumpy, not nice spilling waves, regularly spaced and at predictable intervals.
-Dave (OP)
@NateHanson said:
Perhaps I missed this in one of the earlier posts, but I disagree with the general idea that getting side-surfed is a good tactic for landing in surf. As you’ve found, you lose a lot of control once you’re getting surfed, so the fundamental key to a safe surf landing is avoiding getting surfed in the first place (side-surfed or otherwise).
If the surf-class you were participating in didn’t teach landing in surf by paddling in on the backs of waves (and never getting surfed out of control, then I suggest you find a new instructor.
While I agree that there is some truth to this, when I am side-surfing to shore, it is intentional, planned, and I do have control of the boat. By this, I mean that I can still execute strokes and have a meaningful impact on the performance of the boat. My mind is active, I have a feel for the forces involved, and at the proper moment, I can execute the stroke I need to make my next option effective.
That said, there are points where the wave is absolutely in control and all I can do is maintain my brace until my next planned move becomes possible. The same can be said, however, when I am surfing. I am planing on the wave, oar is in a ready position (if it is not actively being used), but all I need to do is maintain the status quo and let the wave take me to shore. Maintaining the status quo means moving a stern rudder from side-to-side to keep the bow pointed toward shore.
As I said before, however, much of this is not possible in dumping surf. The stern rises quickly, the bow of the boat is likely to strike the bottom (purl - especially in the long boats I tend to use), and when it does, it is going to quickly wrench to one side or the other. If the water is clear, and I can see the impact coming, I can pick the side to which the boat will purl and (often) brace on the wave and recover from this unplanned force on the hull. Other times, especially when the water is murky, this isn’t possible and a capsize is pretty much a given (I just don’t respond quite that quickly to purling).
I’ve seen purled boats hit and stick, bow down, and pitch pole (and sometimes the hull fails), so there is a real risk in bringing in a boat through dumping surf. In an area where I do not know the bottom conditions, you can bet I’ll be going in sideways rather than try to ride the backs of waves (boring, a lot of work, and only sometimes as reliable as a broached landing) or trying to surf in.
I can bring a surf kayak or wave ski, out of a side surf and into a ender, backsurf or frontsurf in moderate waves by adjusting my body position, edging and judicious use of paddle, but realistically except in small surf, when you let your boat start to side surf you have lost a huge amount of ability to control the surf landing, the bigger the surf and the longer, (more volume and surface area) the boat the more control that’s relinquished. It may be a difference of experience and perception regarding wave sizes but once a boat longer than about 12 feet is parallel to large breaking waves, you are stuck in the hydraulic, you may be able to keep yourself upright with a brace, but the chances for chaotic forces and turbulence to erase all control is very large and usually end up with the paddler getting worked pretty dramatically, the force on the paddle also increases dramatically and increases your chance of shoulder injury or broken paddle. I’ve broken 3 paddles in my kayaking life and they were all done trying to survive being sideways in large crashing surf.
SeaDart, you’re not wrong. There are periods of time in a side surf when the wave is in control, but it is remarkable how short a period of time this is - usually just a few seconds. Generally, once the wave breaks and the bumping and grinding begin, one can use the paddle to make adjustments. There are dumping conditions at most of beaches where I paddle (Monterey Bay). The really big waves (say, greater than 6’) are pretty much a bar to entrance to most beaches and are to be avoided. Only in a full storm do you get waves consistently that size or larger. The really large waves can build and dump within a couple of feet and no long boat will surf these without purling. I’m not certain a short boat (other than a play boat) can avoid purling on some of these beaches. Conditions are similar just south of there where the Tsunami Rangers play in the rocks on the similarly steep beaches of Carmel. They do some pretty remarkable stuff in the surf that most of us would hesitate to try. They seem to have the skills, even when broached, to recover (though they seem to prefer going back out to sea rather than land). Watching them, I’ve learned to try to develop more control once I am off the face of the wave and just battling the froth, even though I am definitely not that class of paddler and don’t paddle one of their responsive X1 boats.
Waves smaller than 5 or 6 feet, however, probably fall into the moderate area you describe and are, I find, quite manageable. I don’t feel that loss of control for very long, even though I haven’t paddled boats shorter than 16’ (no wave skis) during surf landing.