Landing and launching a hobie

[TAngler]

Originally Posted by Mr. NiceGuy

I like this advice the best. Dog Beach at the mouth of the SD river is a good place to go knock around in the waves. It's usually a good variety of conditions to use for practice. You will get a feel for controlling your kayak that is hard to put in words. You should also practice capsizing your kayak in water over your head and know that you can flip it right-side up and reboard if necessary.

Go out empty and push your limits. Practice getting crushed. Sit in the middle of the breakers bow out for several sets until it gets mundane, then turn around and sit mid-breakers with your stern to the waves for several sets. Then turn sideways and let the waves broadside you. Quickly you will learn how much or how little and when to lean into the direction of the wave that's about to smash you.

When you lean into a broadside, the water lifts and passes easily under you. If you don't then you will roll away from the wave and tumble.

Diagonal is diagonal, somewhere in between. Just go knock around until you feel confident to control a variety of variables without thinking about it too much.

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To answer the first part of your question, I tend to pull my rudder up as I approach the breakers, then steer, lean, brake and otherwise compensate with my paddle. If my hands are on my paddle, then I can't control the rudder steering lever anyway, so the rudder becomes an unnecessary distraction as soon as it flops out of the neutral position.

I use my peddles for more control until the last minute, then push them flat to the bottom of my kayak until I hit the sand. My legs are usually doing nothing else anyway, and it's one more element of control. Don't forget to get your fins up before you hit anything. You just have to learn to feel your way through. You definitely don't want to plow into the sand or other obstructions with your drive fins down. That can get expensive. I little practice pushing your limits makes all this multi-tasking easier to do without thinking.

I've heard the "coming in backwards" theory, but for me* it just ads unnecessary complication. Opinions vary. I understand that you can see the waves approaching if you are backwards, but so what? You can learn to know where they are anyway. I think we have more control moving forward than we do being pushed backwards.

If you start to surf, dig in your paddle and break the gathering of momentum. It's fun when it starts, but trying to surf in usually doesn't end well, unless it's a gentle gathering of momentum that dissipates soon after it starts. At least not in my Outback. It's not a kayak designed for surfing.

Always stow and tie down your gear flat. I see lots of people landing with their poles leashed perhaps, but upright in the pole holders. That doesn't make much sense if you roll. I think it's good policy to always be prepared to roll even if you never roll. Once you roll, it's too late to reorganize and you end up with a yard sale on the beach.

I'm an Old Fart, not a young athletic guy trying to show off. I just want to land safe and easy, with all my gear and any fish I'm lucky enough to catch. I don't want to mess up my lipstick.

Your mileage may vary.

Thanks so much for the advice! Awesome to have so many folks take the time to help. Very very cool! Thank you! Gonna get out there and practice.

[Mr. NiceGuy]

Originally Posted by TAngler

Thanks so much for the advice! Awesome to have so many folks take the time to help. Very very cool! Thank you! Gonna get out there and practice.

If you are serious about these things as you seem to be, I know a lady you might like to meet.

She's famous in the kayak world, but maybe relatively unknown amongst many kayak fishermen.

Google around and look up Jen Kleck. She's a local treasure who owns a kayak supply business near the SD River and the entry to Mission Bay called Aqua Adventures.

She's often gone on kayak adventures or doing other things, but if you do your homework and organize in advance, you might still be able to catch her for a lesson.

She's among the best of the best, and that's not an overstatement. I would humbly suggest that she's worth whatever she charges .... assuming you can still find her and book her. She is an outstanding teacher and can easily adapt to whatever your level is now, and help boost your skills from there. She is empathetic and down-to-earth in a very wholesome way.

She can "take you to the next level." No doubt about that at all.

I have the utmost respect for her attitude, her personality, her skills as a teacher, and her remarkable experience with kayaks and kayak adventures. She's a pro, by many measurements.

To be clear, she's not a fishing guide, or anything like that. Maybe she's not interested in fishing at all, ... I don't know. What she can do is teach you kayaking skills, and open your eyes to things you need to know to be safe when you go out in the ocean.

Maybe I shouldn't say this in a public forum, but I just did.

[Mr. NiceGuy]

PS - about practicing capsizing, up-righting and re-boarding your kayak in water over your head: I would suggest doing this deeper into the mouth of the SD River where the water is lazy and calm. Not out past the breakers. More than a few fishermen are so damn fat it's sometimes hard to maneuver.

PPS - I was once WAY TF out in the ocean, alone, and accidentally sat on the treble hook of a lure at the end of my line. It was one of those surgically sharp sticky Japanese thingy's. I literally jumped out of my kayak before I realized what happened. Luckily, nobody was around with their GoPro's to record this bizarre event. I didn't know I was capable of falling out of my kayak like that, but I did. Beats the Hell out of me! LOL.

I crawled back aboard red like a tomato and resumed fishing as if nothing happened. Sopping wet, of course. No simultaneous shark encounters to report.

Please don't tell anyone because this is quite embarrassing


When I was more of a newb, the legendary Johnny Ceviche told me to learn "self rescues" before I go out in the ocean ... I have some ideas, but I'm still trying to figure out what that means in it's entirety. My safety checklist keeps growing with ideas and practical applications.

Someone else in these forums reminded me in my formative phase, "when you go in the ocean in a kayak, you become part of the food chain."

Food for thought.

Life is sweet.

[jorluivil]

When landing, I just sit in the kill zone and let the surf wash me ashore