Saturday, January 01, 2011

New Years Surf with Vloed Kanosport


This was a very promising start of the new year! This afternoon I joined the New Years' party of Vloed Kanosport and enjoyed a refreshing dip in the North sea. Blue sky, sun shining and good surf, the conditions were fantastic. It was my first time in the kayak after a break of several weeks (forced by snow and ice) and it felt so good to be out on the water again!

I paddled the Tahe Greenland kayak in combination with a Greenland stick. Piet and I were the only seakayakers, the other paddlers used short playboats. I found the surf quit challenging for the seakayak, and was careful not to spear a playboater with the sharp bow of my Tahe ;-)
Anyway, I admit that I am more careful with a seakayak in surf since my little surf-accident last year: I don't want to loose another boat! Yet surfing was good fun. And I sure plan to do this more often to get more practice in handling the Greenland stick in surf. Bracing and rolling in surf is no issue with the stick, but I find that in situations were quick reaction, accelerating or turning is demanded, I am not yet as confident with the stick as with the euro-blade-paddle. (No wonder after 20+ years of practice with the Euro-blade and just one year with the stick..)

3 comments:

Mike J said...

Happy New Year! I took my Tahe out surfing a few weeks ago and it was a lot of fun. I found the GP was able to accelerate it well but the strokes had to be fast. I also tried surfing with a short surf boat and the GP and it worked well too. I found that the Tahe was only good with smaller waves as on bigger waves there was a much greater chance of going head over heels when I buried the bow. Your surf day looked fun!

Hans Heupink said...

Hi Mike! Thanks, and the best wishes for you for 2011! You're right to be careful with the diving bow of the Tahe in steep waves. But when you do so: it's always good fun to get wet!
greetings,
Hans

. said...

Hi¡¡!! where exactly is this? i would love to go surfing##
Thanks!!
Kepa