East Coast Paddle Festival (late recap post)

I posted about arriving at the East Coast Paddlesports & Outdoor Festival and then went silent. Even though we were in a site with power hookup so we could charge our radios and GPS and phones, the WIFI access was crap. We were suppose to have access throughout the area we were in but that was not the case. After we arrived at home things were busy.

So, about the festival:
We did not know we would be able to go until a couple weeks before the festival and all the masters classes were full with waiting lists. Not knowing if we would get in on classes we wanted we opted to take some classes offered by Sea Kayak Carolina. We did 2 days with Greg, Paula and Rick from Kayak Waveology and one day of surf with Dale Williams. Then we spent a couple afternoons checking out the festival and paddling in the pond. I also spent some time trying out NDK kayaks. My favorite was the new Latitude. It is a nice kayak and I like a smaller cockpit. I am to large for a Pilgrim but the Latitude was a good fit. The Explorer is also a nice fit but the cockpit is a little large and the HV was way to large. In the end though it looks like I will be getting a Romany Surf but that is somewhere in the future. Not sure why everyone is trying to get me out of my Point 65 boats.

Our first day with Kayak Waveology was more of an intro to rough water and coastal kayaking, a coastal tour so to speak. It was a nice overcast day and the conditions were good for a little rough water training. I was happy I had no trouble with the surf launch and I played a little in the surf when we landed at the end of the day. We also had a little fun in the tide race.

Here is a screen shot of our track. Created with Backcountry Navigator.

My wife took this very unflattering video of me playing in the surf at the end of our first Waveology class. Please remember this is the first time I have had my kayak in breaking surf.

Our class the next day was with Dale Williams. So, this was an actual how to surf a sea kayak class. Dale is a great guy and instructor. When I made a mistake he was able to instantly tell me what I was doing wrong. I really learned a lot in this class. My only regret is that we did not spend more time out in the larger outside break because a couple people in that class were not feeling up to it.

Here is what our track that day looked like.  Created with Backcountry Navigator.

Below is some video I shot during the class from the back deck of my kayak. I found that I need a better camera mount if I am going to shoot video while surfing.

 

The third day it was back out with Kayak Waveology. This time they broke the class into two groups. Paula and Rick stayed near the launch with 2 students that were not ready for the bigger water. Greg took me my wife and another student, who is also an instructor for whitewater, out into the larger breakers and over to the tide race. This class was more instruction than the first one we had with Kayak Waveology. We played in some fun conditions. I failed a roll in 3 to 4 foot swells and was towed out a little to do a rescue. I am blaming the helmet. I have never worn a helmet and rolled in a sea kayak. Then we were off to play in the tide race and I went over but this time I did not fail my roll (what a relief that was). We had on the water lectures and scenarios and I got to do a rough water contact tow across a channel with a 2 knot flow. That was fun. Even though you practice these things in calmer waters it is always good to practice in conditions. Then we went into a cove and landed and discussed our towing and rescue equipment we carry and went through some discussions on different towing techniques.  Lots of great information.

Sorry, no video from that class. But this is our track of the day.  Created with Backcountry Navigator.

After the class we went back to the festival and paddled in the pond. We also stopped off at the Masters Beach so I could meet Nigel Foster. We had a nice chat and he is a very nice and pleasant person. He offered me his paddle to try out. Not only does he design great boats but I was very pleased with the paddle design also. I put up a blog about planning to get one of his paddles. We are hoping to do take a class with Nigel at Sweetwater Kayaks. Or, maybe make a trip out to Washington to get a private lesson. When my wife met him a year ago she came home saying that he reminded her of me as far a personality, this is why I wanted to meet him while we were at the festival. 

As for the whole experience, it was great all in all.

We arrived on Wednesday and went to a get together at Sea Kayak Carolina. It rained. Thursday we volunteered to help with the setup of Sea Kayak Carolinas tent and display but there was little for us to do so, we relaxed at camp most of the day. It rained. Friday we had a class and visited the festival. It rained. Saturday we had a class then stayed in camp as it rained. Sunday we had a class then went to the Festival and met Nigel Foster. Then we went to dinner at The Triangle. It rained, sever thunder storms. Monday was a beautiful day. The air was fresh and the sun was out and we packed our camp and spent almost 7 hours in the car driving to Richmond.

When we got home I noticed some cracks in the gelcoat on the bottom of my kayak. Upon further inspection I found that I had stress fractured my hull at the front of my kayak. I can only imagine that it happened during the last class when I raced over an outside wave that appeared suddenly. It was about a 4 foot wave but the front of my kayak smacked the water hard as I came off the back of the wave. The repair is complete and will be posted in a later blog.

We survived and had a great time.