Alaska Kayak School Journal

Here in Homer, on the western end of the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, we never know when the winter surf season will end. Of course this is when Cook Inlet, the Gulf of Alaska and Kachemak Bay stop sending swell our way for winter kayak surfing fun. When we see breaking waves on the Homer Spit anytime in April, it’s time to drop everything and hit the beach. As with most fun these days, it all starts with a few phone calls.

Sea kayak surfing conditions here in Homer can be especially fun when its been blowing westerly or southwesterly, pushing waves 50-100 miles out of lower Cook Inlet. The period is short, but that makes it fun and exciting, as the breakers are quite close together. When the westerly swell punches against the tidal streams that flow out of our local lagoons here in Homer, there is some whitewater fun to be had - sea kayak style. Add some westerly waves to a series of spring tides (the highest tides of each month) and you take it up a notch at the beach as long as you surf in front of the slough entrances.

It’s hard to get good photo documentation most days since we’re all too busy fun-hogging it in our sea kayaks in the surf, and there’s not a wave to be missed. But if you like to have fun, staying on the beach or standing in the surf with a camera, although useful later is, well, booooring !! One of the funnest parts about sea kayak surfing is controlling the kayak in the soup, and the main move is the sideways run to the beach in front of the foam pile of the breaking wave, the “bongo slide”.

The low brace turn is a handy maneuver since every now and then you get to climb the soup and drop back down in front of the foam pile.

As April winds down, I can only hope the surf cooperates and makes its appearance after I get my taxes done (I had to pass on some stunning waves this morning, curses !!). The waiting for waves all ends until the next blow brings some white water to our font yard, the Homer Spit. So keep your gear packed and your surf skills sharp.

Days are getting increasingly longer and the air temperatures seem to be mellowing as March plays out here in Homer on the southwestern edge of the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska. There’s still lots of snow on the ground at our home base at 1200′ elevation (yeah, like 4-6′ worth of snow pack), but at sea level on the shores of Kachemak Bay, the snow cover is thinning quickly and there are even a few small puddles (very small). If you’re a sea rat like us, we’re always looking for an excuse to have some salty sea kayaking fun, and a SE 15-30 forecast means only one thing (besides an excuse for a drysuit toga party): Downwind Sea Kayak Surfing session from the tip of the Homer Spit NNW back to town (we took out @ Bishop’s Beach yesterday 30 March 2008).

The downwind sea kayak surfing run starts with a carry down the beach to launch and a rounding of the tip of the Homer Spit. With a Southeasterly blowing off our port shoulders, we’re sweeping to port and paddling forward to starboard, even with a little skeg down. I’m paddling my older NDK Explorer (2001 vintage), and the skeg’s a little funky, so I”m edging to windward while sweeping-stern drawing into the wind. We head out towards the green can, a large green buoy (no. 3) that marks the edge of the shipping channel 0.7 nautical miles west off the tip of the Homer Spit. This way we can get far enough west and we can end up at Bishop’s Beach, 5.5 nautical miles NNW, and the location of out proposed take out (at least that’s where we parked the shuttle rig). This is not typical Alaska sea kayaking, which seems reserved by most for “summertime only” but it’s warm today @ 38ºF when we put it in on the Spit @ 1310 hrs. and 43ºF @ 1430 hrs. when we arrived at Bishop’s Beach. Will, Charlie and I are all wearing cold water and cold weather PPG (personal protective gear) so we were cookin’ while paddling and my feet were sweating. Once we turn downwind, we immediately start trying to catch the wind waves and “use gravity” to help us change latitude as we surf NNW along the west side of the Spit (right hand side in the opening image).

Real time wind speed at our put in was 15 mph when I left my house 30 minutes before putting in, and as we started surfing north the waves were 2-2.5′, and no larger since we weren’t disappearing behind the waves. At times Will and Charlie said they could see the top of my helmet as I caught a wave and surfed ahead, but I wasn’t ever hidden completely from view by the waves. We obviously have not been paddling enough this winter as our abs started acting out from trying to catch the fast waves with such a short period (time between wave peaks) of 3-4 seconds. But we were out, were sea kayaking in Kachemak Bay, and we were surfing !! “Look at me Christopher Robin, I’m surfing” (if you’re a Winnie the Pooh fan, I am).

In certain areas the waves were steeper and slightly larger, but I never got any good “elevator drop” take offs, and it was a bit of a grunt to catch every wave that came steaming under my hull. But no matter, the winter birds are still around, Oldsquaw (Long-tailed Duck if you’re up to date on name changes), Black Scoters, a few immature White winged Scoters, the odd Mew and Glaucous-winged gulls. I tried to get a good look at all the sea ducks bombing around to see if I can glimpse an Eider species or two, but all of the sea ducks with white fronts that I got a good enough look at in flight turned out to be Oldsquaw, not Steller’s or Common eiders, which easily could be seen here, and we’ve seen them many times before. Several Sea Otters periscoped up to check us out as we surfed by, sinking below the cold, dark sea water as we got closer (genetic memories of kayaking otter hunters?). At one point a large dark Sea Otter, obviously in the throes of a good feed, had the company of a Mew Gull that was picking scraps off the downwind side of the otter’s wind eddy. I saw no Harbor Seals and no Steller Sea Lions, only otters - today.

It only took us about an hour to get within sight of the Bishop’s Beach parking lot where we left Will’s truck, the shuttle rig. Although it was sad to have the downwind sea kayak surfing fun come to an end, I was looking forward to getting home to see how Laura and John Paul, my wife and 25 day old son, respectively, were faring in my absence. Other than kayaking skills teaching engagements in local pools, this was my first day on the water since JP joined us earlier in the month. Will and Charlie had a good time, and I vowed we’d try to catch at least one day of surf before summer starts, they’re ready for the breaking waves and I’m itchin’, haven’t been out much lately (a weird shoulder and a newborn in the house will do that to ya’). But hey I’ve been kayak doggin’ it for years, and now that there’s a little kayak prince to go home to, I’m psyched to be at the take out.

We started the Alaska Kayak School in 1998 to help people enjoy the thrill of paddling Alaska safely. Based in Homer, Alaska, we offer instructional courses in sea and river kayaking, safety and rescue, training and assessment of trip leading skills for guides, as well as instructor training and assessment in the both American Canoe Association and British Canoe Union. We offer guided trips and expeditions for paddlers of all levels of skill and experience: from novices to advanced. We supplement our trips and courses with rentals of high quality paddling equipment for experienced skilled paddlers with appropriate leadership skills. Our sales programs focus on rugged usable kayaks and canoes and all supplies and accessories that facilitate paddling fun - safely.

Long winters and high quality pools in Homer, Soldotna, Seward and Anchorage, allow skill training in pools to be a significant resource for paddlers in our region. The comfort of a warm familiar environment allows most northern paddlers the chance to really push their limits when learning and developing “wet skills” such as wet exits, rescues, Eskimo rolling and bracing. Novices really benefit in being able to learn challenging underwater antics in a familiar environment. Pool training courses are a big part of our winter activities at the Alaska Kayak School.

We established the Alaska Kayak School in Homer because of the relatively warm, dry climate here when compared to other ports on the Kenai Peninsula, and because of the wide variety of easily accessible paddling venues: surf beaches, open water, tidal streams, scenic glacial fjords, and many protected coves and bays. In this way, Homer and Kachemak Bay are the best location for a year-round paddling venue that provides the environments needed to train sea kayakers as well as paddling trip leaders and instructors. Make no mistake about it we paddle all year round, our paddling logbooks have entries for all weeks of the year.

The rich natural environment of Homer, Kachemak Bay, and the Kenai Peninsula only enhance the enjoyment and learning opportunities of our instructional courses, guided trips, expeditions and unsupervised rentals. Coastal mountains, glaciers and ice sheets, deep glacial fjords, rugged exposed coastlines of Cook Inlet, and the North Pacific and Gulf of Alaska shores of the Kenai Peninsula, the Kodiak Archipelago, and Prince William Sound beckon at our doorstep. Jaw dropping scenery and the abundant wildlife of the region only serve to highlight the excitement and fun possible while enjoying the regions navigable waters on your own terms. Wildlife watching and photographic/video opportunities are endless.

With a moderate amount of kayak training, some camping skills, a little research, and some travel $$, paddling Alaska is in most paddler’s reach. We’ve just started offering multi-day instructional trips to share the best of our techniques in the context of a multi-day sea kayak camping trip here in Kachemak Bay, see here for more info: http://alaskakayakschool.com/calendar/index.html#june0

Stay tuned for more news from the Alaska Kayak School Journal, ‘+) Happy Paddling !! Tom