Archive for April, 2006
The most exciting-and dangerous-way to get back to shore is to ride a wave in. This takes skill, judgment, knowledge of surf and a little luck. Trim the canoe as for the other approaches, with the weight well aft. Starting well outside the breaking point, pick a small or middle-sized wave as it approaches, and start paddling toward shore so that the canoe is moving in the same direction as the wave and at nearly the same speed.
As the wave comes under the canoe, you will feel the craft pick up and start to skid down the front of the wave. At this point, unless you are highly skilled and lucky, you will lose all control, broach to, and roll over in a welter of foam and water. Stop paddling, move your weight aft quickly to lift the bow out of the still water in front of the wave, and use strong ruddering action to keep at right angles to the wave. If you don’t lift the bow it will sheer off, and at once you will broach.
If the wave is large and steep there is danger of pearl diving when the bow is driven down into the still water in front of the wave. The wave then pushes the stern right up and over for a “pitch pole,” which is dangerous to both canoe and canoeists. If the bow of the canoe happens to hit bottom, there is a good chance that your next project will be shopping for a new canoe. If the wave is steep, the stern of the canoe may be so deep in water that some will ship aboard, and the craft may even swamp-and this may happen as the wave breaks, but you must get wet and still keep your weight back. Once the wave breaks, it will take very strong ruddering action to hold a straight course. But with some practice you should reach the point where you will be able to ride right up to the beach with canoe and crew intact-and fairly dry.
Competitive Paddling
As a sport, competitive paddling in the United States is controlled by the American Canoe Association, an allied body of the Amateur Athletic Union and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. The types of canoes used in international and Olympic competition have been standardized into the C and K classes. These are light, very fast and tipsy craft of thin plywood, constructed for maximum speed and calling for expert handling. The C or “Canadian” is the racing type for 1-, 2- or 4-man crews using single-blade paddles. The K, or rigid kayak type, is a narrow boat propelled by 1-, 2- and 4-man crews using double-blade paddles. Divisional, national and international paddling regattas are held yearly for both men and women, and every four years Olympic trials open to citizen amateurs are held. The standard course is a 1,000-meter straightway event.
SAILING CANOES
An offshoot of the paddling canoe is the sailing canoe, which is also raced in competition. The standard racer is a decked sailing canoe, a double-ender, 17 feet long, 43 inches wide, and limited to 10 square meters (107 square feet) of sail area. With its full deck, and equipped with a sliding hiking seat, it can be capsized and righted while under way and can reach a speed of 15 knots.
The American Canoe Association also has a cruising class which takes in wooden canoes equipped with lateen sails, leeboards and steering paddles. Also, C Class canoes can be adapted to sailing, being fitted with mast steps, leeboards, transverse tillers and Marconi-cut sails, usually of dacron. Decked sailers and cruisers are most numerous in the East, while the C Class is found in large numbers in the area around Jacksonville, Florida.
CANOE CLUBS
The American Canoe Association owns a thirty-five acre island near Cananoque, Canada, where it conducts an annual “under canvas” camp each August for members and guests. Daily activities include sailing races, swimming, paddling races and novelty events. This has been a yearly gathering for over fifty years.
However, the canoeist who seeks companionship on the water and ashore can find canoe clubs in every part of the country where there is water. Numerous groups of canoeists interested in one or more aspects of canoe paddling or sailing have organized a club, acquired or rented property, put up a boathouse and social hall, and function much like a yacht club. The officers of the club are generally a commodore (president), vice-commodore (in charge of land activities), rear commodore (in charge of water activities), and purser (secretary and treasurer). These officials are known as the flag officers of the club. Members of the board of governors usually double as committee chairmen. The usual committees are: finance, building and grounds, social, paddling, cruising, membership, regatta, public relations, etc. The Washington, D. C, Canoe Club has been in existence for 75 years and a number of clubs have celebrated their 50th anniversaries.
Other canoe clubs own no real estate, but have a dozen or more canoes, a few trailers which carry 6 canoes each and are usually stored in a member’s yard. These groups hold occasional meetings and regularly issue mimeographed bulletins listing canoeing events, passing on club chatter and technical information. Information on canoeing and canoe clubs is available from the American Canoe Association, 400 Eastern Street, New Haven 13, Connecticut.
The trip back to shore may be a bit wetter than the runout. If you do not want to ride the surf, use the following method: bring the canoe to a right-angle position with the waves, bow toward the beach. The bowman should return to his position behind the bow thwart. The sternman should shift to a high kneeling position with one leg in front of the stern thwart and one behind. From this position he can move quickly fore or aft as needed to trim the canoe.
The surf may look deceptively light when seen from seaward, but watch it! It is important to move more slowly than the waves. As you come near the break you will feel the stern of the canoe lift. Back water hard and move your weight aft. You must keep the canoe from moving forward with the wave.
After the wave rolls by, move your weight forward and paddle forward on back of the wave. Try to avoid the point where the wave would break on top of you by slowing down or speeding up. This is where keeping a right angle to the waves is most important. If the canoe gets the least bit out of line, even a small wave can roll it over.
Watch for lulls and try to come in with them. When nearing shore, pick a small wave and paddle in on the back of it, not the front.
Another method is to come in with the canoe in just the reverse position, bow out to sea, stern toward shore. The paddlers, in the same position as before, back water toward shore on the backs of the waves holding or paddling into their fronts. With this method you can keep an eye on the oncoming surf and pull hard into it. It is the way surfmen bring in dories and skiffs through heavy surf.
First, canoe surfing calls for a two-man (or woman) team and teamwork. Study the surf before setting out. Look for the lulls between the sets of waves, observe the runs or rips, and the exact angle at which the waves approach the beach. If the waves are small enough, you can start whenever you are ready. If there is any size to the surf, wait for a lull or pick a runout or rip current. The important thing is to keep the bow of the canoe at right angles to the waves at all times. If you let the canoe get even a little off this right angle position, the first wave will turn the canoe broadside and the next will roll it over.
Carry the canoe into knee-deep water. The bowman gets in, keeping aft of the bow thwart, and steadies the craft with his paddle. The sternman stays in the water, near the bow of the canoe, keeping it at right angles and lifting it over the waves. If there is a strong set or current parallel to the beach it will have to be compensated for along with the angle of waves.
When the lull comes, push the canoe out. The bowman pulls and steadies the boat while the sternman quickly climbs in from about waist-deep water. He keeps his normal paddling position; with the bowman back of his normal position, the bow should be so light that it will ride high in the waves, to lift up and over the incoming combers.
The crossing of the waves is the crucial point. Once you get started, keep on going as fast as you can past the first break of the surf. It is absolutely necessary here to keep the canoe at right angles to the waves. You may have to change paddling sides very rapidly and use very powerful ruddering strokes. If the wave is going to break on you, the best procedure is to drive through and hope for the best. In almost any surf, even a light one, you can expect to get some water in the canoe.
If, farther out, you have to cross a bar with more breaking waves on it, use the same approach. You will have a better chance out there, with more room to maneuver, to avoid the first part of the breaking wave, which is the most dangerous, by speeding up or slowing down. Or you may be able to find a run or rip through the bar which will make it quite easy to get out.
Once beyond the last break you can relax a bit, bail out the boat, and return to normal paddling positions. Out on the ocean it is important to keep an eye on the wind. Any increase in wind strength or direction may mean trouble, and if there is an offshore breeze keep close to shore. Remember also that an onshore wind usually means choppy seas.
Canoeing in the surf can be as thrilling as the roughest and fastest white water. Going out and coining in through even a light surf is something not soon to be forgotten. The thrills of surfboarding and outrigger canoeing can be enjoyed with a standard canoe. One of the greatest water thrills is to guide your canoe down the front of a wave with the spray and foam leaping past your face.
If you live near the shore it is a good idea to know how to use your canoe in the surf as a safety skill and even a means of transportation. A canoe can be used, and has been, to perform rescues in the surf when other boats were not available.
The important canoeists’ skills for surfing are the sweep, push and draw strokes, and the J stroke and ruddering. The ability to “feel” your canoe and change your balance with its movement can mean the difference between being part wet and all wet. It will be necessary to change paddling sides without losing strokes, sometimes repeatedly, and very rapidly.
One of the first things you will notice as you look at the surf will be the fact that the waves do not come in at constant intervals, but in groups or sets, each one seeming to be larger than the last one. Then there will be a lull or a relatively calm spell before another set comes in. Also notice that the waves very seldom come in straight at 90-degree angles to the shore, but are angled from one side or the other because of the wind.
Watching the surf, you may notice that some spots look different from others. The waves will not be as large; may not even break; the water may be a different color; there may be a jumble of little waves, or even churned-up sand and debris moving seaward. This is a run-out, rip, sea-puss or offshore current all different names for the same thing. These currents are caused by the returning action of the waves as they roll back down the beach out to sea through a hole in the bar or reef. They are extremely dangerous to swimmers, but an aid to a boat or canoe in getting offshore.
The location of bars or reefs is indicated by breaking waves or light-colored water somewhat offshore, with rolling waves and darker-colored water nearer shore. Sometimes the only way to get over the reef or bar is to follow the run-out or rip. On most beaches the tide rises and falls approximately twice in 24 hours, giving about 6 hours between high and low tides. This can be important to the canoeist because the surf at high tide may be entirely different from what it is at low tide.
Wind is the other major factor to take into consideration. A light offshore wind, one blowing from land to sea, will make the water smooth, with small waves, ideal for canoeing. However, in a few hours the tide may pick up considerably and a canoe too far out may have a serious problem in getting back. If the wind is light onshore from the sea toward land, the surf will generally be moderate with not too many bad spots. However, if the wind is quartering off the beach, blowing at an angle toward land, a rough, choppy sea can be expected. The set or drift, which is a current parallel to the beach, is caused by the wind. It is important to take this current into consideration when going out and coming in.
Catching a Ride
Assume that you have successfully gotten through the shore breakers and are sitting in your craft in the surfing area facing seaward. Suddenly you notice a large swell coming toward you. It appears that the wave will make up steep just about where you are, so you turn your boat shoreward, keeping an eye on the wave that is rapidly bearing down on you from behind.
When the wave is about 5 to 10 feet away, start paddling hard, straight for shore. As the wave begins to come underneath you, you will feel the boat begin to rise and pick up momentum. At this point, paddle even harder and >throw your body forward. As you feel the boat begin to slide down the surface of the wave, apply a stern rudder to hold the boat at right angles to the wave. If you oversteer and
the boat starts to turn to the rudder side, immediately apply your rudder on the opposite side and bring her back to about 90 degrees, and so on into shore. Just before the shore is reached and the wave breaks, apply your rudder vigorously to broach the kayak, and turn out to sea again.
As you gain in experience you will find that once you have caught the wave you can let your boat turn more nearly parallel to it, picking up tremendous speed and covering much ground. This is called “sliding the wave.” To do this you must have a boat with lots of fore-and-aft rocker, or surf your boat well over on its side.
Eventually you will find that you can go almost anywhere you wish on the wave. You can “slide” right, turn and “slide” left, run it off straight, etc. for an exciting water activity.
