Posted on May 4, 2019

Coming fresh off my ACA Level 3 accreditation I was looking to push things a bit further with an eye towards level 4. While I do many things well on and with a sea kayak, the one thing missing were more profound surf zone skills. So far I traversed surf zones because I had to and not because I enjoyed it. In fact, I dreaded coming back in through the surf. A proper surf zone class should fill the gaps.

It was an exciting day, I became comfortable spinning my kayak in the soup zone and eventually learned how to catch waves. This was also about the first time that I went into the water involuntarily. I already knew how to roll but in calm conditions and when you're fully set up. In surf things are much more dynamic. When you do find yourself rolling becaue you get slammed by a breaking wave it is completely unexpected, almonst violent, and without a breath of air since it happens so quickly.

Well, after pulling a really terrible first roll I settled down and found out that my roll holds up under pressure and in surf. I was spilled into the ocean many more times that day and my rolls became effortless and relaxed. I held my boat on a wave as long as I could and then used the force of the wave itself to go over and roll up on the other side - it was an awesome feeling!

That day, and thanks to Mike, my skillset improved by an estimated 300%.

Above: James Ferris et moi catching some nice surf.

The main attraction of Tomales (at least to me) is the Bakery. I spent the night right in front of it and waited for the bakery to open before continuing my trip to Tomales Bay.

At Nick's Cove I met this young fellow kayaker who was proudly holding two Wolfgang Brinck paddles (I approached him because I immediately recognized Wolfgang's craftsmanship). I don't remember his name but he was remarkable as he found ways to make this long and narrow beam kayak work with extra ballast, an ingenious ladder design for self-rescues, an electric bilge pump and even a Flat Earth sail on the foredeck. It was even more remarkable since he was severely handicapped and had to compensate for so many things that others would have long given up.