Ken Johnson organized the Paddle Fest last weekend 3-5 May in Corpus Christi, Tx. Prevailing conditions for the 3 days. Winds at 20-25 knots with 35 knots gusts. Surfing waves reached 4 -5 feet, separated only by 6 seconds. Wind waves about 3-4 feet.

Fantastic event, with close to 50 attendants, splitting in two or three events simultaneously.

Friday evening paddle in the bay, wind was a little less that day, 3 capsizes with about 30 participants.

Saturday morning our Mexican group of 4 and Ken Johnson, Marilyn Kirkus, Robert Stalk, Gerry and Zonia Alvarez, Chris Kuhlman and some more whose names I don't recall tried surfing in Padre Island. Surf was rough, with about 8 lines of braking waves before clearing the surf zone. Almost everybody capsized, some rolled some times and some wet exited but everybody ended swimming back at one time or another. Ken had to swim after a 4th roll trial, because, even though he never misses a roll and almost never turns over, his carbon fiber blade had broken and the shaft was not enough to support his strong hip flick.

Juan Luis and I tried surfing in the Tandems. We had three capsizes while getting organized. Two capsizes were in our fast tandem CanCun (long and narrow 21.5 feet and 25 "wide). One in our tandem Tabasco (20.8 feet and 28"wide). We decided that the Tabasco was better for surfing and after synchronizing our paddling we went out and back something like 10 times picking up nice surf, sometimes bracing hard and enjoying ourselves like mad. It is incredible how well this Tabasco surfs and handles without a rudder. We would go out to the middle of the breakers, and turn quickly in between 4 feet waves, catching the next wave almost sideways and using it to finish our turn and ready to pick up the next one. Sometimes bracing was needed but if only one of the two reacted in leaning and bracing, it was enough to keep the boat going. We both paddled back and I paddle ruddered when necessary. Going out we would both paddle hard until the wave was so close that Juan Luis had to lance it with the paddle leaning forward, to reduce the wave impact. At one time he said that he felt the wave pulling one by one all his spinal bones from top to bottom. In pictures both riders are under water. We could handle the surf without problems showing the boats seaworthiness. So far so good. There were nice events and dinners on Saturday and Sunday.

Things changed Monday morning. Ken Johnson accepted our challenge. A one mile race in flat water. He would use the 16.2 single Performa and we would use the CanCun tandem. Going out the CC Bay he suggested to go around the oil well about 3.5 miles out. Wind was 25 knots with gusts up to 35. Wind waves about 3 feet.

In the flat protected area we were ahead, but once we were out he split. The Performa maneuvers very well in wind and waves. We had no rudder in the CanCun and the boat started broaching. Corrective strokes would use lots of our energy, while Ken would correct by leaning and maybe every now and then a sweep stroke. He was waiting for us at the oil well. I don't want to recall his friendly welcome comments. Coming back chased by wind and waves, he enhanced the difference. Everytime he picked up a wave he would get farther away. We had to make quick corrections before each wave to pick it up straight and avoid broaching. Our coming back time was less than a quarter of the time going out.

We came back, picked up the Tabasco tandem and went out again. This time we were pretty even going out. We still had to do some corrective strokes but not as many and leaning was helpful. He was ahead due to better knowledge of the area and better ferrying. Coming back though, we surfed much better, but still not enough to catch with him. In this second trial wind and waves were bigger, but he seemed totally unperturbed in the Performa, looking smaller and smaller all the time. Once back in the protected area, where he waited for us, we kept a similar pace.

Our conclusions were:

The CanCun is really faster in flat waters and needs a rudder in bad weather. The Tabasco is great for flat water and bad weather, specially nice for surfing large waves. The Performa is very hard to beat, in any type of conditions. Even though it is short 16.34 feet it is very fast and very maneuverable, and surfs great. Does not need a rudder. Seems to coincide with Greggs report on the last week Tsunami Rangers race in which the shorter narrower boat (17 feet 18") won the race against larger boats and tandems.