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Old 04-05-2011, 10:53 AM   #25
dsafety
Olivenhain Bob
 
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Join Date: May 2008
Location: Olivenhain, CA
Posts: 1,122
Quote:
Originally Posted by jorluivil View Post
I think I just discovered an unorthodox style of surf landing on a yak. For several months I've been thinking about how to prevent getting that yard sale (getting tossed) and today when I was about to land at LJ I decided to finally give my idea a try. As soon as I got close to the area where the waves were cresting I flip the yak around and paddled backwards, this allowed me to see all the waves as they were building, cresting and breaking. I had two waves come in that I know would make me surf, and probably get tossed. When these two waves hit I was able to slightly paddle forward and once the wave passed me I started to paddle backwards again.......worked better than expected.

This is actually a really good way to handle larger surf. I saw a guy at LJ in a sit-inside yak do the same thing. As he got to the surf line he spun the kayak so the bow faced the waves and backed in. The bow sliced cleanly through the incoming waves. When he got the sand he stepped out of the cockpit as if there had been no waves at all.

If you have a yak with peddles or a rudder, you will probably want to secure those in the up position before trying this trick.

Bob
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