Saturday Surf Kayak Report - Santa Cruz and Scott's Creek

Drove down to Santa Cruz early Saturday. I was going to meet Desmond at Davenport, but he got there first and called me to tell me that the waves were no good. Size was there, but weird, mushy and confused. So we met at Steamer Lane in Santa Cruz. It looked good. Dave Johnston and Rusty Sage were out in kayaks, along with Jason Kozun (sp?) on his waveski. It looked really good. I seemed to be moving slow, and it took me far too long to get my gear together, but eventually I was paddling out.

It was awesome. Gorgeous, clean waves. Big. Dave and Rusty must have known that I was going to be making them look bad, they paddled in as I paddled out. (I kid. )

How to describe it, it was just awesome and fun and big. I stayed out for hours, catching wave after wave. Surfed at Indicators and out at middle peak. Just awesome, mind blowing fun. Best session since the Davenport contest. So much fun. Stayed out until my leaky boat was getting hard to handle and reluctantly paddled in.

Went and grabbed a quick bit to eat. A friend was having a party in SF that night, so I drove north up PCH. Stopped at Davenport, but it still looked super junky. Stopped at Scotts Creek, where I've never surfed before. Sat and watched some board surfers. They were getting some fun looking rides, and there were some peaky looking spots near them they weren't on, so I decided to paddle out again. Suited up and paddled out. What a pounding! I honestly didn't know if I was going to make it outside. After a long and brutal battle, I made it to the lineup. I sat and watched for a bit, then thought I saw a wave that looked good. I told myself I'd just catch one, the paddle out was too tough. I turned and dropped in on the wave. Fast and fun. I was screaming across the face, and watched it start to pitch. Tried to bail off the back, but got caught and the lip and thrown back down. Absolutely pummelled. I thought I was going to be ripped from my boat. Finally popped up, sputerring, and saw a clean line outside. Paddled like hell to get back out, but got caught and pummelled again. 4 more tries to get out.

I repeated this process 5-6 times. The waves were awesome but by this point I'd paddled a LOT that day, and my arms were turning to Jell-o. I decided it was time to call it a day, and took one last wave in.

Went to the party, but kept thinking about how good the surf was. I had plans to ski Sunday, but was seriously tempted ot stay and surf kayak sunday too. In the end I drove home and skiied. Fund day, but I couldn't help thinking I might have preffered to surf kayak !