LJ 4/17
 

Carpooled over to LJ with Tagyak, got there a little later than we expected to, won't say why:D. Get to LJ, setup and start to take a look at the sets and Tagyak says his farewells (for that moment) and launches away. I was dragging my yak over to the waters edge so I didn't get to see him launch. When I was sitting in the water waiting I was paying particular attention to the three large sets that kept coming in, they were in the 4' range:eek:.

1,2,3....jump in and :kayak-surfer:. I get threw the white wash from the large breakers and once I thought I was in the clear I started to take my time paddling until I saw a HUGE wave building about 50' ahead of me:eek:.....I don't know why but I stopped paddling for a few seconds then told myself, "WTF are you doing...PADDLE YOU IDIOT! The wave was so large that when I was about to clear the crest of the wave my yak was sitting in about a 45degree angle and when I came down the bow slammed into the water. It took me at least 5-10 minutes to gather my senses, had I waited a two more breathes I would have been picking my sh*t up from the waters edge.

I found a school of sardines just past the yellow buoys and managed to catch four until a school of dolphins went by and scared them all away. I met up with Tagyak a few minutes later and he was kind enough to give me a few maks.

I won't go to much into the fishing details but I did manage to catch two legal Calico's (both released) and two rockfish that came up with the bends, I forgot my forgot my deflator so I kept them. I don't if recall if Tagyak came up with anything but he, much like I, threw everything in the water except the kitchen sink and got no love on the WSB or YT.

The wind wouldn't let up even after the sun broke threw the clouds. About the only good thing was that the wind kept blowing out of the south, had it changed directions the paddle back might have been a long one. We decided to call it a day right around noon, to many white caps and even had the occasional small swell that would crash over the side of the yak.

Made it back to the launch in one piece, did the old backwards paddle again and got in with no damage. Didn't see anyone at the beach with any fish, I figured that since there wasn't much bait in the water someone would hook up but that didn't appear to be the case. Stopped at In n Out on the way home and that was all she wrote. Had a good time hanging out with TagYak:luxhello::luxhello:. Last but not least........I NEED A HOBIE!!!!

Those sneaker waves can really put your heart in your throat. Glad you made it out whole. At least you didn't get skunked.

Thanks for Nice update on the conditions out there and great pic! Better luck next time.

That's TagYak in the background.

I went out last Friday, launching to some medium size waves that were ridiculously close together. It was the wettest successful launch I have ever experienced.

I will not bother with a fish report. Suffice it to say that the skunk is still in the building.

On the way in, I became a little concerned about landing with sets coming in at 5-7 second intervals so I decided that I would give the back-in method a try. The tide was low and the surf had really calmed down so it was not really necessary. On the other hand it is probably better to try out something new under mild conditions rather than having to learn under the gun.

Since I ride a Hobie, there are a couple things that have to be taken care of which guys on paddle yaks don't have to worry about. I locked the peddles in the up position against the hull and pulled up the rudder. With the bow pointed into the swells, I started to paddle backwards. Whenever a swell came through, I paddled forward a bit just to keep the bow pointed in the right direction.

It worked great. Every wave pushed me closer to shore. When I reached knee-deep water, I hopped out. It could not have been easier.

Of course when I got to the beach, my buddy TMan came over and started ragging on me for my unmanly method of landing. Unmanly or not, I will keep that method in mind the next time I face difficult landing conditions.

Thanks for the suggestion Jorluivil.

Bob

Glad to see someone else had a successful backwards paddle. The last two times that I was paddling in backwards I made it in without getting tossed while two other yakkers that were landing at the same time got tossed. About the only disadvantage to coming in backwards is the fact that you do take on a little bit of water but by the time you're ready to land you're probably already wet so its no big deal.

BackPaddle
 

Question my manhood if you will, but I too, have taken to backing in. Hey, my masculinity is usually questioned if I dump coming in forward too. I have never flipped while launching. So I might as well come in facing out. Just watch out behind me!

After I landed Friday, I had a pretty entertaining show watching a couple kayak classes come in. It almost hurt to watch the tandems wipe out.

I'm very glad I watched videos posted here about looking over your shoulder. I had a big set sneaking up when I was coming in. I ended up catching a small wave, but that whole leaning into the white wash when I got sideways worked nicely.

Bob, I'm just curious, Why do you lauch with your legs spread out? :hmmmm2:

well after this trip with jorluivil i too will be trying the backing in method. long story short, i got tossed like a wet rag doll coming back in on sunday. stinkymatt missed his opportunity to see this funny sh*t. :p
i am appreciative of the post last week about "yard sales". with the conditions out on the water i had a feeling that i may be in for one. luckily the only thing that i lost was the down tube for my hobie bait tank. everything else was recovered.
regards to looking silly or unmanly, i rather stay upright then being tossed again-live and learn......