As a member of the "Year Around Kayaking" club around here, it's a membership obligation to paddle at least once per month, all year. So far, I've paddled 28 consecutive months. But...work has been really hectic, so I paddled on the 30th of December, the 28th of January, the 24th of February, and just to make sure I squeaked one in in March, last night, the 31st.

Bob 'Ootek' Warren calls me the "LMKC", or "Last Minute Kayak Club"...especially as I find myself sitting at work around lunch time of the last day of the month in which I have a free evening, and call him with only an afternoon's notice, "Hey Bob, can you boat tonight?!"

So...I had the munchkin by myself this weekend, so no paddling for Daddy, and that left only the 31st. I actually called Bob last Thursday, and we made plans for Monday night. Then, woke up to a windy day. Praise the sea gods! And it blew, and blew, and blew some more. I was really excited to get off work.

The weather station at Angel Point on the west shore of the lake was reporting 25mph West winds with gusts to 35+mph. The east (lee) shore was going to be awesome!!!....but for some reason, the winds never made it to the east side of the lake. Hmph. Some nice, largish 2.5' waves made it there, but no winds picking them up and giving them a last-minute nudge. Oh well, we were going!

I had Bob snap a couple of photos of me surfing in....as I just wrote a GP carving article for the QajaqUSA newsletter and Bobby Curtis needed a photo of the paddle in use. And the print deadline was Monday. Yup, Mr. LMKC, that's me!

So...I downloaded the images this morning, and this was one of the first shots...I was struck at how the kayak fit the bow and stern waves, and how the spruce swoop in the side panels fit the curve of the water. Wow...you can't plan something like that.

Sharp eyed readers will notice I don't have a PFD on....I was working on some rolls and didn't want to get hung up by its flotation. I did return to shore and don the PFD for when the surfing started in earnest.

The Cormorant really surfs quickly. It doesn't have nearly the rocker that my Guillemot and Avocet have, and it was harder to maneuver into position, but it felt like it hugged the wave and didn't tend to broach badly...I think it might broach worse in breaking waves. I still have not yet installed a seat in the kayak, and my butt slid around a bit too much for great control. I think I'm going to break down and install hatches, bulkheads, and a glass seat, rather than leaving it spartan.

I was like a little ADHD kid in a candy store. I hit shore, then grabbed my Dagger Redline to see if I could do any enders in the waves. I have to admit that my whitewater skills truly suck, but it's fun learning (sort of my position on tele skiing, too...but that's another matter). I caught some quick surfs, but the Redline didn't have nearly the hull speed I'm used to with my sea kayaks, and I missed a lot of waves. Caught one wave, leaned forward, and did an unintentional endo and stopped cold when my bow hit the bottom! Fortunately, I leaned back as the wave passed under me, and I floated free before pitching onto my face.

Then....ran back and grabbed the Cormorant again to paddle out and make a few runs in with Bob.

Some days there just isn't enough daylight. We were in the dark by 8:00pm, and drank a frosty PBR on the rear bumper of my van and caught up on each other's latest projects. What a great evening--thanks Bob!

Shawn

I can't wait for Daylight Savings Time!!