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 Post subject: Surf entry and exit
PostPosted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 1:23 am 
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Joined: Tue Dec 29, 2009 1:19 am
Posts: 113
Location: New Zealand
A quick thanks to Hobie. Have just got back from a couple of days away staying with friends in the beautiful Eastern Bay of Plenty at friends. Day one my wife and I spent peddling around the harbour me in the Outback and Anne in her Sport. I had just put ST fins on her Sport as she complained about not being able to keep up with me as I had Turbos, boy what a difference. She is now sold on kayaking which is great because she never really dug paddling as she used to get sore back and shoulders. Day two my friend Jeff and I went out off the ocean beach fishing and had a great day catching plenty of fish to feed the troops and releasing more. I also found that you can minimise the splashing that the Outback is renowned for when peddling into wind pushed swell by just slowing down or angling across the swell. Hobies are still pretty rare in NewZealand and boy do they draw a crowd - everyone is impressed with their efficiency. When I left had Jeff drooling over the Adventure Island.

Anyhow - to cut to the chase - getting in and out when you have to negotiate surf breaks - how do others do this? Do you put the fins in on the beach then pull the yak out until its deep enough to peddle, use the bungy to hold the fins in place and start paddling until its deeper or paddle out and put the fins in once you are out the back? And what do you do coming back in? I do launch from surf beaches from time to time and of course this issue never came up with paddle yaks. I realise there are heaps of different types of surf. If its too gnarly I'll go fish a harbour or a lake.

Thanks for your thoughts and thanks to Hobie for making such great yaks.


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 Post subject: Re: Surf entry and exit
PostPosted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 9:18 am 
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Joined: Sun Apr 20, 2008 6:18 am
Posts: 3058
Location: Sarasota,Key West FL
charlief:
I think everyone has their preferred way to do surf launches and landings. In Florida where the water is warm (which can make a difference on your technique) I typically tie a bow line to the bow and walk the boat out to waist deep water, then time my entry into the boat with the waves, then peddle like crazy to get out past the surf. I have the rudder down, and the bungy on the Mirage pedals. You know you can still pedal with the bungy on, which is much safer when launching or landing in surf.
Now coming in is a different story, what I tend to do if the surf is very high (3 ft or more) is to throw out my anchor when I get near shore, then let it drag on the bottom to keep the boat straight, I then jump out before reaching shore and guide the boat in by the anchor line, being careful to not get to close to the boat (where you can get hurt). This technique has a lot to do with where you are also, in south Florida it's all sand so your anchor almost never hangs up in rocks, also the water is always very warm here so it's no big deal to jump out. Like I said everyone has their own technique. Also as divers if the anchor gets stuck, this is an excuse to go get it, and we stand in line to volunteer.
Hope this helps
Bob


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 Post subject: Re: Surf entry and exit
PostPosted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 2:49 pm 
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Joined: Sun Aug 12, 2007 5:17 pm
Posts: 679
Location: Auckland NZ
G'day Charlie!

This is an oft-repeated question.

Surf exit: either pull the boat into deeper water, put the drive in wait for a lull in the waves and then pedal like crazy or wait for a lull in the waves and then paddle like crazy (if paddling don't put the rudder down!).

Re-entry. They key to safe re-entry IMO is to avoid surfing the waves. There are a couple of techniques you can use which will have a similar effect as the anchor technique described above (which is a new one on me but I can see how/why/that it would work fine on the right beach).

What I usually do is to paddle back in with the rudder up. I am waiting for a lull in the breakers; when I sense one I will go for it but smaller waves will still be coming in and try to surf me. If the size of the waves is relatively small (by this I mean ones up to the size where they are just big enough to stand up surf them but no more) I back-paddle and if needs be lift my feet over the sides of the cockpit to act as water-brakes when a wave comes up behind me so that the wave passes under (or over!)the boat, then I return to paddling like crazy on the back of that wave til the next one comes up behind me.

For larger waves (and here I am talking about the sort of pounding surf that the surfers will be shredding) I have developed a miniature Johnson Series Drogue (look them up on the web). This works in a similar way to the anchor technique described above but the drogue works on the water not the sea floor.

My series drogue is incredibly effective: I can sit on my kayak in a surf break with surfers shredding all around me and at no risk of being picked up by a wave for almost as long as I want. It can be tricky to stay in the saddle if just sitting there (because the passing waves do make the boat buck which is very unsettling - however when I have fallen out in such a break the boat just sits there lying to its drogue, and I have just climbed right back in again). If you do what you should be doing - which is pedalling towards the shore through the waves against the friction of the drogue behind you - you shouldn't be in the worst part of the break for long and it is usually not a problem. The mirage drive is more than powerful enough to make good progress towards the shore against the drag of my 9-cone drogue.

Wheter using a drogue or not, as soon as I get out of my kayak on a surf beach I grab the handle at the BACK of the boat (your instinct is to go for the one at the front !). Holding the boat by the stern means that when a wave passes it will swing the boat perpendicular to the waves and it will not be able to turn the boat parallel to the waves (which would possibly/probably end in a roll-over).

Now a couple of warnings:
0. Read up on drogues and use as directed - the way they work is counter-intuitive to some sailors who have been brought up to think of deploying anchors/sea anchors from the bow only but numerous tests and real life deployments have demponstrated that used exactly as intended (i.e. drogue, not sea anchor, from the stern) they are very effective at preventing a breaking-wave capsize at sea (exactly what you want when landing a kayak through a surf break).
1. A Drogue, while cheap to make, can be quite tricky to deploy from the cockpit - you need to flick it over the back of the boat and the rudder mechanism on a bridle which isn't so easy when twisting round in swells (my Adventure is longer than the Outback though).
2. So the best thing to do is to prepare your drogue for use before you set off if you expect big breakers on your return. Typically I don't go out in those sorts of conditions (so my foot-brake technique is adequate) and when I do I am usually in a small bay where there the breakers are smaller at one end or the other - so I rarely take/use my drogue these days. I wouldn't think twice about taking/using it if I was going out through big surf and/or if I was doing a longer trip where surf re-entry was likely to be a fact of life.
3. When I first tried the Drogue and reported my experiences here I got howls of protest from people who had never tried it but posted that the idea was dangerous and drogues should never be used because of risk of tangling yourself up in a trailing rope or whatever (I can't remember the detail but I was quite shocked by the amount of prejudiced opinion that was vented towards the idea). So don't expect to get any positive encouragement from others in the kayaking fraternity ,then if you get any you will be pleasantly surprised.
4. Rule 1 of surf re-entry on a SOT fishing kayak is to have EVERYTHING attached to the boat by a cord. BEWARE getting tangled in these cords as you step out of your boat (these are much more likely to cause injury than a drogue because they are hard to see, very strong and short and therefore can easily attach the boat to you/you to the boat on a very short leash if you e.g. put an arm/foot/leg through one as you jump out. If you use a drogue the rope for the drogue will be streamed out under tension behind the boat not wrapping itself round your ankles)

Hope this helps.


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 Post subject: Re: Surf entry and exit
PostPosted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 5:24 pm 
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Joined: Sun Nov 20, 2011 11:52 am
Posts: 135
Getting out:

Wade to water deep enough to use the fins, hammer out. This crap of sitting and trying to pick your way out is a recipe for disaster, the less time you spend in the surf zone the better, just pound straight out as fast as you can and dont get sideways to the waves. You might run face first into one or two, but it wont be many.


Getting in:

The EASY way is to stay pointed OUT and let the waves slowly bring you in backwards, that's the easiest way to avoid getting turned sideways, you maintain rudder authority. paddle/peddle a few times if one is about to break on you and that will keep you from getting surfed. get washed in till your in knee deep water or so then hop out with the boat between you and the beech, NEVER be between the boat and the surf, a wave will try to park it on your head.

Of course the fun way is to surf in, but on a fully loaded fishing rig with rods and everything that's probably rather foolish, its fun in a sea kayak though! 8)


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 Post subject: Re: Surf entry and exit
PostPosted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 1:39 am 
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Joined: Tue Dec 29, 2009 1:19 am
Posts: 113
Location: New Zealand
Thanks for the advice. My real concern is damaging the fins, however the get aboard and paddle like hell principal appeals on the way out - use the paddle as well to brace and stear?

Coming in - my paddle principal was if there is a decent swell running - sit out the back counting the the time between waves, get on the back the last wave in a set, go like the clappers, counting and when you figure the next wave is right behind, hopefully having broken, jump over the side and as Stobbo says grab hold of the rear of the yak and hang on :lol:


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