Andrew should be back tomorrow so at least we’ll get a rest :D
David – the Lendal guy – goes every fortnight with some mates to play in the surf or standing waves by the harbour and I finally had the chance to take him up on the invitation to go and play. It’s only fair – he did come fishing with me one time. He leaves off before me and I had to go home and pick up my drysuit and say goodnight to my daughters so by the time I arrived they were already out in a selection of Necky play boats and Pyranha yaks. I parked up, unloaded (a lot quicker when you can carry a small yak on one shoulder, paddle in the free hand and not grab rods and tackle etc) and wandered down to the harbour. The current was pretty quick and fortunately going out as I’d never paddled a Yak Board before and being 8ft long and wide with a flattish hull it’s not quite got the speed I’m used to – and nor has the paddle.
I launched, put the thigh straps on and paddled into the water. First impressions of the yak were that it was very manoeuvrable – each paddle stroke turned the nose so perhaps not an ideal touring boat but that isn’t its function. It was stable, it was quite light in the water and very, very easy to turn – ‘on a sixpence’ springs to mind – so ideal for its purpose in that respect. It’s quite a wet ride as the yak is not very deep and the seating position is low but this is of course better than being high, dry and falling in every two minutes. It was also comfortable to sit in with plenty of space for my hips (the downside for me of the Frenzy).
There are a few banks in the harbour mouth and quite a run through – a few rips to play with too.
As I got closer to the mouth – and the standing waves – it started to build. Thirty seconds after this picture I ran into larger waves which I couldn’t stop and snap but you get the idea.
I went out of the mouth into 3-4ft waves, many of which were breaking and headed around the end of it where David and the others were already playing. David immediately grabbed the Yak board while I said my hellos etc.
He went back in his Necky and I proceeded to play. My playing is pretty simple – launching myself up and over waves, turning and spinning on them and generally getting a feel for the yak. David on the other hand plays a bit more seriously:
I dunno what he was doing but it was deliberate and looked good although I doubt it could be done on the tray I was sitting on :D Mind you, he didn’t stay in all the time…
The others were having a good time too
and I was able to take a close look at the design of their hulls in a fine display of synchronised drowning!
No such displays of immersion with this chap – he did plenty of this and it was good to watch:
Of course this was as much about the banter as it was the playing in waves and it was nice to be out in a group (there were 6 of us at all stages of skill)
Once the tide dropped and the wind eased the waves picked up a bit and a few of them were actually pretty good for surfing on – nothing really classy but when you got a good one that wasn’t broken up (as most were – it was quite messy water) you could have a good run into the beach on them. The Yak Board really came into its own there and was so different to the Prowler 15 or Trident in that instead of turning side on and flipping or sinking on the nose and dumping you (although I did drop the nose one time and had the yak shoot up vertical, me sliding out of the thigh straps through gravity and landing on my feet, reaching round and catching it beautifully). No, it tracked nice and straight and turning was easily corrected by the paddle and/or the thigh straps and at the end of the run in shallow water it was a case of spinning it around with one or two strokes and heading back out. It was SO EASY!
Soon of course it was time to come back in. I’d had a couple more dunkings, both through not paying attention and not because of the boat itself and was able to do a deepwater entry in drysuit and PFD with ease. Coming back through the harbour mouth wa s interesting – big standing waves, again breaking here and there, but I couldn’t surf them because the water was still coming out and also rebounding off the structure. It was actually quite difficult to make much headway against this and I should have done like the seal I saw and headed out the other way in the stream at a good rate of knots! Head up out of the water at 5 knots easy with the sun in the right position it would have made excellent viewing! But no, I had to get back to the van and so we paddled in slowly. Not all the way mind you, I did get out and walk at knee height at one point which surprised some people on the bank.
Back at the launch point in calmer water I tried standing up. It didn’t have enough buoyancy for me to do that and the centre of gravity was in a raised bit so I couldn’t manage it but it was worth a try. Out we all got and I slid it into the back of the van – the perfect size – and got out of my paddling gear before the drive home. Great fun, I learned quite a bit about paddling technique and responding to / using surf and decided that I really ought to get myself a Yak Board to play with. I just need to try it for flat water to see if it’s any good for trolling from and if it is, well, I might just buy and rig one for those evening sessions. A great evening. Cheers Ginge!
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