Lewis River

Last weekend ended a hat-trick of baby showers over the last three weekends, which has kept me away from the surf for a while. However, this last baby shower was for Laurie’s sister, Bethann, who lives in Vancouver, Wa. Laurie’s Dad and step-mom live about 15 minutes away from Daybreak Park on the East Fork of the Lewis River, and there’s a rapid there at high water that I’ve been wanting to run for the last couple years. They’d received a lot of rain over the last week, so Sunday morning Larry, Eric and myself got up early and headed to the river.

It’s the first time I’ve had the Squashtail in the river and most of my river boating time has been spent in canoes, so the little hole created by the water flowing over the boat ramp created a perfect spot to play and get used to the action. After putting in and practicing some eddy turns, I ferried my way onto the wave and started to surf. What a blast. I’d catch the wave and maybe make a turn or two before the bow of the boat would pearl into the upstream slope of the hole, making me do an endo of sorts. Sometimes I’d pop out and stay on the wave, but more often I’d fall off the back of the wave and ride the train, catching the eddy and doing it all over again.



It took some getting used to the current and I’d do the classic lean upstream, when I should have leaned downstream kind of thing, which flipped the kayak more than a couple times – all part of the learning curve. After about 45 minutes of continuous wave play, I was wiped out and dragged myself out of the water. In the end, I left the river wishing for bigger waves and more of them, so I think this provided for a great transition from the ocean to the river. Next weekend I plan to do the Elwha River with my friend, Ed. If we’re lucky we may get some ocean surf in at the end of the run.

River surfing is fun (and the water tastes better), but at this point I prefer the ocean wave.

San Diego

I had to travel to San Diego last week for work. I love San Diego and always have a great time with my friends Dave and Jennifer who moved there a few years ago.

When I mentioned to Rob Sweet that I was headed down, he he demanded that I take one of his longboards out in the surf. The boards are at his friend Abe's house in Carlsbad, so I got Abe's number and gave him a call and made plans for me to pick up the board on Saturday and we'd meet out in the surf when he was done working for the day. Since I was staying downtown in the Gaslamp district, I had planned to rent a car on Saturday and drive up to Carlsbad, but Dave insisted that I use his truck instead. So I drove up in the free truck to pick up the free board and surf in the free ocean.


I met Abe's wife, Shannon, picked the yellow 9' ish longboard and headed to the beach. I bought a new rashguard and rented a wetsuit in Carlsbad and got in the water at Tamarack. The waves were about chest high and well shaped. The paddle out was easy enough with nice intervals between waves. During my first session I caught three waves right after another and had nice rides back into the beach. It's been a while since I've been on a board, but it felt great -- probably the best boardsurfing I've ever done.

During my second session, I had a short-lived score as I saw a fin break the surface of the water about 50 feet away from me while I was waiting for another set of waves. I instantly got all my appendages on the board as my heart rate accelarated. Within a split second, I realized I was looking at dolphins, but that initial shock kept the adrenaline pumping for a while. The dolphins hung out for a while and I realized how luck I was to be surfing in California on a beautiful day in March.

After a few hours of surfing, I was exhausted and hauled myself out of the water. I still hadn't connected with Abe, so I thought I'd call it a day and return the board. As I was walking to the truck, I heard someone calling my name and there was Abe.

So after some introductions to his family and their friends, I found the energy for one more session. I was wiped out and made some half-hearted attempts at catching some more waves, but didn't have much success. The dolphins came back and even caught a few waves of their own. I finally caught another wave and rode it in for the perfect end to a perfect day.