How many of you have flipped your kayak?

[Fiskadoro]

Oldie but goodie with a few serious lessons....




The opposite of the above these guys have some serious skills....

Originally Posted by capntim

... i heard another way...jump on in, grab onto rear handle or strap and kick on in- a human rudder you might say. Just have gear stowed. ...

I've seen this used in a emergency situation when going out rather then coming in. If you judge things wrong and hit a bad set that's way bigger then anything you can paddle through at the last minute you can jump, grab the front handle and your weight in the water will pull the yak through a cresting wave. At the same time you will wash back towards shore. If there are more waves coming you just hold on and you will wash you right back to the beach where you can try again. I watched a guy do this in Malibu where in a mix of three footers he got hit with a six plus that broke right on him. He rolled off the yak at the last second grabbed the yak and pulled the nose down. It then pierced right through the wave and he was back up and paddling in less then a minute. Dude knew what he was doing.

Never seen it tried in reverse coming in but no doubt it would work. There was a day in Malibu up at County line where I seriously considered trying it, but then the waves broke just right and I paddled and surfed right up on the beach.

Originally Posted by Kahouna

I saw a video of some guy coming in backwards through some serious waves and a dim bulb went off..... This has worked flawlessly at LJ and San O.

I watched your vid and and there are two things I'd suggest. Not giving you a hard time just constructive BS. One I'd say always wear your PFD when going in or out, and two never let the yak get between you and the incoming surf.

If you had been in bigger surf and a wave caught your yak when you were standing between the yak and the beach it would of driven the yak into you with force, and you could of lost a few ribs or your teeth. It's a mistake everyone makes once, I did and got nailed pretty good one day, but the bottom line is once you are in the water you want the yak between you and the beach, not the other way around.

Put the two together and you got real trouble. Say a wave caught your yak wrong that day and it hit you in the head hard enough to knock you out, with no PFD on you could of possibly drowned.

Personally I think the backwards thing will only work in small surf. Get anything big enough to make your kayak surf backwards and you are done. It's hard enough to keep a yak straight and your nose up when surfing forwards, much less backwards

Jim