At the beginning 1- 2 foot waves and growing. After 1.5 hours they were about 3-4 feet. Great evening, great surf.

Learned to steer by leaning, and by using extended paddle as taught by Derek Hutchinson in the Beyond the Cockpit video. Moved around by the beach with extended paddle turns before being stranded sideways by incoming waves, What a good way to fight the broaching push near the sand.

At times the bow was under water in a frenetical run. At times waves passed totally over the stern and part of my back, not carrying me. I did something wrong, next time.

Since I have closed my kayak manufacturing business and only kayak for pleasure, there is no problem in saying that my boat surfs great.

At the very end a stupid wave tipped me over, and I rolled or paddle pushed myself up on the sand. Checked my compartments afterwards and the front and dayhatch were bone dry, but the back compartment had 2 water cups.

I retightened the straps. They were loose and entered again to make some rolls in behalf of a family that was very excited at my performance, and for compartments test. After 4 successful rolls, (the last two with difficulty since coming waves forced me to really push hard), the three compartments had no water.

Tomorrow I'll try again. This time I'll take the plastic white water kayak that Ann Berkery gave me in my last trip to California. This surfing stuff is most fun. I also did some "rock kinder gardening" by some jetties. It is just a beginning but at least I saw the rocks from 2 feet distance, full of "urchins? (black things with nasty thorns always pointing them your way).

What? O yes, the temperature. Air was so hot that you just felt slightly fresh in the water. Who else was there? O yes, only tenths of youngsters spilling their youth and strength with beer and music by their cars, while I am trying like crazy to save whatever is left of mine. Wonderful youth. I don't swap it, though, but recognize how good it was to be like that. Right now my family, my friends and my challenges give me enough to keep me going.

Best Regards,

Rafael
El cayucochief

This is dedicated to Ann Berkery CKF enthusiast and great human being.

I took your Mirage Perception rotomolded kayak out in the surf. Surf was bigger than yesterday. 3 - 4 ft waves. Wind 15 - 20 knots.

What an experience. Shorter kayak, lots of rocker, rounded flat hull. I had a very tight fit. Had a hard time to get out. Wet exit didn't seem an option.

First impressions. Going out, every coming wave would splash you on the face or chest. Some did hit pretty hard but not enough to turn me over. Water temp was just right. I got turned over very soon. Rolled, no problem. Boy, that was easy.

No more capsizes. Very stable boat. I could put my paddle down and use both hands to simulate picture taking in the soup. Hard to keep straight, but very easy to correct course.

Now, the surf. Picking up a large slope wave would speed you up and very few kept the boat in course for a long ride. It did speed up sideways and started to climb back and away from the wave. It was fun. Tended to broach but didn4t take much of a brace to hold it going. 6 or 7 times I got a high energy wave and broached me strongly, but more often the boat went back up and let the wave go.

Steering was fun. I need a lot of practice to get the best out of the boat. It requires it's own technique, worth learning.

Once I pearled badly. I felt it coming. The nose sinking and sinking until suddenly it hit bottom. There I was vertical and then upside down. As I was ready to roll, felt another wave shaking the boat. Waited few seconds, rolled and there I was trying to open my eyes, but speeding with another wave. That was great.

I thank you for the boat. Enjoyed it a lot and will use it to enhance my surfing skills. Had I been in my boat during these surfing conditions I would have capsized few times.

This evening two paddlemates came by to surf and to see if what I told in the reports was truthful. Again wind was strongest at 6:00 PM.

Waves were bigger than the two previous days (4 - 5 ft). I guess they were celebrating that Arthur Hebert and Larry Koenig finally left them alone after so many months of Gulf of Mexico circumnavigation that ended successfully today.

In front of my friends I did some very nice runs in my Performa L, but as evening passed I started to capsize and turn over more often. I was trashed, humbled, scratched and smashed. At first it was good runs; at the end it appeared as a rolling routine.

Jose was new to it and I set him in between waves and had him practice Wayne's drill as he taught us, consisting of keeping the position in the four manners. Looking to the sea, looking to shore, left side and right side, with the respective braces. He did great and I left him alone to explore some more. He never capsized and braced as if he knew in advance. He is a born sea man.

Rodrigo strong and young wanted to eat the whole cake. He went out to face the larger ones in the set. He capsized twice. On the second I was near and we tried a T to T rescue. We failed and both ended up in the water, and had to walk out. When you go into the sea to do a rescue, you really have to go far away so as to have time to perform the rescue before being again in the breaking zone. We did not move far enough and we were caught in the nasty zone in the middle of our rescue attempt. This was the only roll I missed of the several that the waves and my tiredness put me into. I could not react as well as in the previous days. Need to go more often to the gym to gain more power, force and endurance.

Surfing is over for the time being. I drive back to my hometown tomorrow. Jorge and Rodrigo had taken very seriously the training for the Isla Santiaguillo crossing and they are paddling 14 to 18 miles two or three times a week. There is nothing like having strong goals ahead. Exercise, diet and discipline, get a high priority. I hope they don't find out that that Island doesn't exist. (just kidding..).