Wave Analysis and Entry Strategy

Surfing can be one of the most graceful and expressive aspects of kayaking, the joy of carving effortlessly, working with the wave to glide across the water. For many however, surfing can provide some of the more spastic and humbling moments in a kayak; not being aware of what the rules of the game are can lead to a rather chaotic and random series of splashing and flailing. In essence surfing is one of the purest forms of being able to tap into the power of the water, and to interact with it in a graceful and playful manner. A lot of surfing has to do with your ability to “feel” the water, and judge how your boat is interacting with it. Since learning to “feel” can take a while, especially without some form of guidance, I will give you a ladder like outline to help you develop that feel a little easier. This first tip is part of an ongoing series, before we learn to really shred it hard we need to understand the wave and how it tends to work.

Wave analysis is something that most experienced surfers do on an almost intuitive level, but they still take the time to size things up before they head out onto it. For this specific tip we will be focusing on river waves, since understanding them is slightly unique in comparison to ocean waves, but the process of analyzing is still just as important anywhere. The ideal way to learn is to have a good wave with an eddy that we can repeatedly access the wave from. From this eddy we will also have the ideal spot to do our wave analysis; here in the eddy we can take all the time we need to judge the subtleties of the wave (and often watch others surfing the wave as well).

Some basic things to learn to identify right away will be the wave peak, the trough of the wave, the wave shoulder, and the face of the wave.

The peak and trough of the wave are basically the high and the low points of the wave, with the face of the wave being the part in between the two, where we usually want to spend most of our time while surfing. The wave shoulder technically means the side, or edge, of the wave. In practical terms we tend to have two slightly different applications for the term “shoulder”; it can refer to a part of the wave on the side of a breaking wave that is not breaking, or it can refer to the small wavelet nearest to our eddy that feeds to the wave.

The more details that we can glean from our wave analysis, the steeper our learning curve will be once we paddle out of the eddy. Looking at the basic features of the wave, ask some more detailed questions about each of them in turn:

Is the peak breaking, or is the wave glassy and smooth? How steep is the face of the wave, and how steep is the trough (meaning the angle between the incoming water and the face of the wave)? A steeper face, and/or a breaking wave will tend to be much faster and dynamic. We will also tend to have more difficulties keeping our kayak from “pearling” (diving into the trough, and burying the bow under water), as a steeper face often has a steep wave just in front of it with very little room for our kayak to maneuver without catching the nose of our boat. Steeper waves can be a lot of fun with some practice, especially if the water leading into the wave is relatively gradual in its slope, we just need to keep things moving a bit faster than normal. Often even on a very steep or breaking wave, we can find a smoother, less steep shoulder to surf on.

What is the angle of the wave to the current; is it perpendicular to the flow, or does it angle laterally downstream? Laterals, or angled waves, tend to be much harder to surf, since they tend to gradually (or sometimes not so gradually) push things towards the downstream end of the wave, and off downstream. We will need to spend the majority of our time pointed to the upstream point of the wave, surfing that direction to stay on.

Where is the “sweet spot” to surf? This is a little bit subjective, but in general it is a good idea to at least find some “sweet spot” where we will be able to surf with minimal effort on our part. The sweet spot tends to be a part in the wave where it is not breaking, and the trough is not so steep that we are constantly in danger of pearling. This is the spot where you will want to start out learning to surf, so when you are judging the wave from your eddy you will want to make your plans accordingly.

The entry onto the wave is quite possibly THE most crucial part; if we don’t enter the wave in control, we may not even make it to the wave, or we will make it to the wave but already be in the downward spiral of being out of control. Making a plan for how to enter the wave is important to develop. Having a plan will not only make you more likely to achieve your goal, but it will also be helpful for troubleshooting the times where you did not achieve your goal. When we are trying to figure out how to get our kayaks to that sweet spot and start carving turns, we will often learn just as much from our mistakes as from our successes, if not more so. Your basic goal will be to move out into the wave with a narrow angle to the current, and position your bow in the trough of the wave. The relative upstream/downstream position of the bow is crucial; too far downstream and your boat will be falling off the backside of the wave, too far upstream and you will be encountering the backside of the wave above you, causing the boat to pearl, and/or be turned downstream and off the wave. In addition to the position and angle you use it is important to slow the boat to the current enough to allow the boat to "stall out" on the wave and begin surfing. In other words; even if you have the perfect angle and position, but you stop paddling two strokes before your boat has really caught the wave, you could still find your self washing up and over the wave. Timing is important, because if you start paddling too hard or too soon, you'll find that you'll drive the boat into the next wave, but wait too long and you'll find that your boat won't be able to catch the wave...

My approach to learning most aspects of kayaking is to try to figure out how to do it with less: less muscle, fewer strokes, in short, LESS WORK. Entering a surf wave is one of those classic situations where less is more; learning where to put your boat and with what kind of angle, as well as how much edge, will do far more for you than any paddle strokes you can use. The idea here is to learn how to let the river do the work for you.

Most good surf waves have a shoulder on the side that leads into the main part of the wave; your challenge is to learn how to put your boat on that shoulder to get the free ride onto the wave. By placing your boat so that the bow is in the trough of the shoulder, without letting the bow pearl into that trough, you can usually begin to “surf” before you even get to the main part of the wave. As long as your boat is put in just the right spot, with a slight angle towards the main part of the wave, and a very slight amount of edge towards the wave, the boat will tend to surf across the shoulder of the wave and right into the sweet spot. If the shoulder is a good one you may need only a few paddle strokes (maybe only 1) to cross from the eddy to the sweet spot, and even the smallest wavelet shoulder can at least offer some form of assistance in attaining the wave. When using a wave shoulder, it is important to remember that specific boat placement, angle, and edge will all be FAR more important than how hard you paddle; in fact by paddling too hard you will have trouble feeling when the boat has begun to surf the shoulder towards the wave, and you will be far less accurate with your boat placement.

Take the time to really line things up carefully when entering the wave; spot the shoulder and put the tip of your bow just in the trough with enough angle and edge towards the wave that your bow doesn’t pearl, but not so much that your boat is spun downstream. Depending on the wave and its shoulder there may be very little room in terms where to put the bow and how much angle to use; so you can spend a while trying to figure out just the right combinations to make the smoothest entry. Keep trying, and don’t expect to make immediate success with your entry, it takes time!

Last but certainly not least is your posture! It is a common error to try to keep the bow out of trouble by simply leaning way back to the back of the boat. It is important to maintain an upright posture, therefore giving you maximum control of the kayak. Loosing your paddling posture and "getting in the backseat", tends to put you behind the action, with the boat having a tendency to take off without you being able to control it, not to mention making you less stable. This is not to say that you cannot lean back momentarily to un-weight the bow of the boat, but recognize that this tactic is really only effective for a very short time frame, after that moment you will need to sit back up. By maintaining good posture, you will have better edge control, better angle control, and better torso rotation and paddle strokes. Staying “forward and in the drivers seat” is not only helpful physically, but mentally as well!