Good morning, one and all.
Jack Lyons here with a little question, please:
In a few months, I want to buy a used whitewater kayak for ocean surfing. Oh, a little bit of river play, yes. But 97.2948% will be for surfing in the surf zones near San Francisco.
My ancient Dancer XT was never really satisfactory; it has no real EDGES to aid in gripping the wave.
Any ideas, ladies and gentlemen?
Oh, besides this forum, a better way to reach me is
kayakstar@aol.com
if you don’t mind.
Many thanks to any who respond; I do appreciate.
Jack Lyons
This came-up a few weeks ago
See if you can find the thread… Basically, assuming for some reason you have rulled out a surf boat, you want to decide what kind of surf you want to do: small messy steep or larger greener waves. A short playboat would allow you do to a lot of trics in the former, a longer “free runner” type of boat would be better for the latter. The short boat will not catch the long waves and the long boat will nose-dive on the short waves, so you kind of want the “right” boat for the waves you want to surf… After that, lots of choices and you need to find something that fits you.
Necky Rip or Necky Jive
Look for either of these two older models in a size that will fit you. Great introduction to surfign boats and good in rock gardens too. 8’2" Jives are plentiful and can be had for about $300.
ditto what seadart said
I have an old Necky Rip and I like it for its speed in getting out past the break. I do find that once it has turned sideways it is hard to get straight again. I would love to try a Jive as people say it is an excellent ww surf boat. Have used a WaveSport Big EZ in the surf. While it indeed surfs it is slow to get out.
Perhaps useful
Keith Wikle does surf kayaking and writes about it
You might find out some info among his pages.
http://gokayaknow.com/index.php/surf-kayaking/my-new-surf-kayak-the-mega-bullitt-x-s/
http://gokayaknow.com/index.php/surf-kayaking/no-one-knows-you-are-a-ninja-when-youre-dead/