technique
CATCH
MorE
WAVES
SiMON COWArD
So you’re comfortable catch-
ing the easy waves—you know,
those mellow slow-moving roll-
ers, not too trashy and just
the right size—but catching a
steeper, faster, meaner wave is
more elusive. The good news is,
P
hoto
you already have the two most
important skills you need to get
s
cott
on these waves: ferry gliding
k
and edging.
ozinichik
The easiest places to start
pushing yourself are waves that
you can catch from eddies. Catching a big, trashy wave is basically the same as catching a small,
easy one—you just need to do it with more gusto.
From the eddy, look for a diagonal current or wave that feeds into the main wave. In waves with poor
eddy service you may have to use boils, surges or the eddyline to get yourself onto the wave. The key
to dealing with challenging eddylines is to attack them with some speed and be aggressive.
Most people miss waves because they aren’t 100 per cent committed to catching them. They ei-
ther lose their ferry angle or their nerve, or both. The turning point in my own paddling came on the
Rabioux Wave on France’s Durance River when my instructor (and boss)—a tough-love Scot named
“Talc”—told me to “stop being a wuss, keep your ferry angle, edge your boat and paddle onto the
f***ing wave like you mean it.”
As you enter the current, aggressively edge your boat and hold your ferry angle. You have to want
the wave and be dedicated to catching it. Sure you’ll take a few thrashings—that’s why you learned to
roll—but grabbing fast, tricky-to-reach waves can transform your local run from downriver yawn-fest
to thrilling surf-fest.
A second way to catch more waves is grabbing them on the fly. This is usually more challenging than
from an eddy, as you have to kill your downstream momentum so you don’t flush through, while at the
same time maintaining a slight edge and angle to prevent your bow from pearling.
Two of the most common mistakes I see people make when trying to catch waves on the fly are
flushing off the shoulder of the wave and pearling the nose of their kayak. Two tricks to staying on the
wave and out of the trough are positioning and angle of approach. Hit the wave where the foam pile
looks most retentive, with your boat angled slightly across the current—bow angled towards the centre
of the feature so you will not get surfed off the side. Keep paddling and looking upstream, maintain a
little edge and you should now be surfing on the fly.
technique
SurF BuS EATEr
BillY HArriS
Big-wave surfing has long been admired and even feared.
However, the technical skills used to surf monster waves like
the Ottawa’s Bus Eater, Uganda’s Nile Special and West Vir-
ginia’s Dries are nearly identical to those required for shred-
ding small waves. Surfing is surfing—aim for the steepest
part of the wave and stay on this face for the best ride.
is
However, when it comes to getting on big waves versus
small ones, there are a few significant differences. Hard
h
a
RR
y eddylines and fast flow demand higher ferry angles and
more energy output from the paddler. For some waves, ac-
cess can’t be had from the eddy because of massive eddy
P
hoto Bill
fences—instead the paddler must drop onto the wave from
upstream. The biggest waves in Uganda and Canada implement a rope tow—a long line anchored to
shore that allows paddlers to use the current to pendulum onto the wave.
The first thing you’ll notice as you drop or rope yourself onto a monster wave is the speed—you feel
like the hood ornament on a freight train. That feeling never gets old. The wave picks up your boat and
pitches it down the face, bouncing you wildly along the way. Big waves also don’t have markers on the
left and right sides—there is a lot of face and you tend to get lost on it. Go out to dominate it and you’ll
get beat down. You must move with it instead—watch the wave’s subtleties, the angles of inflowing
water and the pitch changes.
Big waves have the volume and speed to swallow you whole when they crash, making things like a
solid roll and a reliable buddy of higher priority. Skookumchuck at high tide is amazing and huge fun,
but the paddle back to the eddy can be two miles long with boils the size of Volkswagen Beetles swarm-
ing beneath you. Freaking out, missing your roll and swimming “on tour” at Skook could be fatal.
Despite these differences and consequences, big waves are actually easier to surf than small and
medium-sized waves. The face is so large that your bow doesn’t pearl if you are slow from rudder to
rudder. In fact, carving on these waves is really kind of optional. You can just sit and hang out—you
don’t need to be actively avoiding the trough like on smaller waves.
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