today was classic and crapic. :-)

I'm busy getting ready for the river trip so i asked my mate stuart to be my safety net and take me for a paddle.

Alot of my row and surf buds have been most anal about saying i should never venture back to the ocean but thankfully stu knows the enslaving powers of the ocean and helped me out today.

Ok the details.

We went to a rather groovy harbour town, hout bay. The swell is so large you'd almost believe the waves were concave. 1 foot is pushing levels of hope.

Stu brought his paddleski with but only mine got to drink some sea.

The beach there is a shallow area(my head found ground a little too many waves), so stu walked next to me catching me when i lost balance.

I'm able to keep upright and row in pool or equally flat water, the motion of the ocean however has about 4zillon different directions current at any second.
We expected that i'd just spend the day going nowhere learning how to stay up but luckily we're insane (by human not doctor standards) so after navigating a few waves to get deeper we schemed that trying a wave for a laugh would be a good idea seeing as i hadn't capsized nearly enough only on 30 in 35 minutes.

Due to my trouble paddling and still aiming the boat stu was kind enough to push me into the giant one foot waves.

I started by trying to keep upright for the wave ride, not really possible. I 'fell' onto the arse end of my board and rode it like a bed. A very different kind of waterbed. I managed to keep right side up and dismount the wave with no worries. A stunning 15 second ride to bring back the joys of being wet and wild.

We buggered about for another 40minutes catching waves then got out. A massive day.

I'm not sure what a paddleski is,, but it sounds interesting,,, sounds like you had a great first time back,, on the ocean, that is.

Friends like Stu are often hard to come by,, but now that you've done it,,, and not drowned yourself in the process,,, your other mates might think differently.

Post a picture, if you can, as I think I'd like to try it , too.
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What's a paddleski? Is that like a surf kayak?

kyaks are good and much easier to customize for us paras but i'm not a fan.

kxaks you sit in them, key word is IN.
It's a boat with sides and if you're really good you can get in paddle, get out and back to land dry.

Paddleski is essentially a surf board with a strap to keep you on. If you don't get you whole body yet you're doing it wrong.

Kyak is river based with some people risking waves and the ocean.
Paddleski is for surfing waves with no sane people doing rivers.

Will put up a pool photo later tonight.

it would seem my dad's pc is in a worse state than my back, i'll put some pics on my phone and post them in the morrow.

That sounds really cool. Something I'd like to try out! Can't wait to see the pics!

yes i know, i've taken long but life has this funny habit of happening. Should have pics by the end of next week.

heres someClick to view attachmentClick to view attachment looks like fun, do you sit directly on the board?

yup.
After the river trip i'm going to try put a seat with a backrest like i did for the raft.
I'm curious to see how it goes, in a pool first of course.

Paddles remain my sport of choice, thankyou for speeding up the photo process.

I wish I lived near an ocean! I would probably be out there surfing and all that type of stuff every day! Looks awesome! I live right on Lake Ontario but regular kayaking on flat water kind of bores me. I need the waves for excitement.

I live right on Lake Ontario but regular kayaking on flat water kind of bores me. I need the waves for excitement.
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That is precisely why i go for the skis rather. :-)