| Surf Etiquette for Kayakers by Chris Joosse | ||
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Surfing Right of Way |
These days as surf breaks become more popular with kayakers, friction
mounts when kayakers encounter other folks in the surf. Surfers
can be territorial even among their own kind, short boarders vs. long
boarders, locals vs. non-locals, newbies vs. lifers... and sometimes
nothing you do or say will keep them from resenting the fact that you're
out there in 'their' surf- but this doesn't mean that you shouldn't make
an attempt to get along. Kayakers have given board surfers legitimate
reasons to complain in the past and it's important that we all be aware
of this in order to avoid propagating the tension between our two very
different tribes. I've never had a problem with board-surfers, but then I also don't frequent popular breaks very often- your mileage will probably vary and I encourage you to take my words with a grain of salt, but here's my understanding and I hope it's useful: 1) Right of way goes to the first rider on the break. If two people catch the wave, right of way belongs to the one closest to the spot where the break is peeling- the shoulder of where the break becomes the soup. If you don't have right of way, courtesy dictates that you drop off and get out of the way. If the two riders catch the same wave but the peel begins between them, each has right of way on their own shoulder. If two riders are on breaking shoulders that are converging upon each other (i.e., the wave is going to close out) neither has right of way over the other. On a breaking wave (in the soup) nobody has right of way. 2) If you're paddling out, you should make an effort to avoid surfers on the wave- conversely, if you're riding, you're responsible for avoiding people coming out. Because paddlers can't 'duck' surfers (or waves, for that matter) they bear an additional responsibility- avoid being in situations where you pose a hazard to others. This means that if you're in the break zone and get caught by a breaking wave, make sure you're not going to get swept in towards someone who's coming out... and conversely, if you're coming out, avoid being behind someone who could get pitched into you by the oncoming soup. 3) Paddle safely, and don't get in over your head. You can hurt someone if you get pitched on top of them, if you run over them, if you get in their way. The rules are here for your safety and for the safety of others- and if you're out of control, expect folks who don't want to get hurt by you to tell you to go elsewhere. 4) Understand that there are rules and there are unwritten rules, and the unwritten ones are subject to change at any moment. The unwritten ones say that out in the surf, whatever the 250-lb alpha gorilla says are the rules, are the rules. As it's been said, cops don't swim and until you get to shore, the alpha guy is the law. It's a jungle out there, stick to the rules even if they're not fair. Numbers two and three here are probably key when you're thinking about why board surfers have issues with paddlers- we all know that shit happens and all it takes is to have one newbie crashing in towards shore creating a 10-foot-wide swath of flailing paddle and fearsome destruction before some folks will conclude that kayaks in the surf are just unsafe... at which point rule four may be exercised. Probably more key, however, is the fact that boaters can catch waves earlier than surfers- because we're paddling, we can sit outside surfers and (if we're real jerks) get on the wave and establish 'right of way' before they can... bad mojo here. The rules of right of way were established to avoid conflicts, and in the case of different craft, they're not fair to board surfers when we're around... perfect recipe for conflict. unless we're aware of the fact that there's a line going and we make a concerted effort to work with our boarding brethren to see that everyone's getting a fair number of turns, we stand a good chance of causing problems. I usually paddle up to surfers when we're in the same surf and ask them what sort of system they're using here. So far, simply signaling that I'm interested in/aware of right of way issues and in control of my boat has served me well- I've never had a confrontation with a board surfer. ...but then, that probably just means I've been lucky and haven't run across any real tools who are determined to find a fight. Like I said, I avoid crowded breaks... especially when there's creekin' to be done. |