Alaska Kayak School Journal

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.