Surfski Knowledge Base

Reivers Dustin
01/17/05 #89

Several years ago Greg Barton used to show up for our Wednesday night
paddles. On this particular Wed. it was blowing really hard from the
South and no one was there when I showed up. I was still paddling
the Victory (the one the Ryler paddles) and decided I could use a
little rough water drill. Besides, I just thought, hell … it's a
lake. What's the worst that can happen?

I had a lot of trouble carrying my boat, had second thoughts, and had
put it back on the rack when Greg showed up. I talked to him a bit
and he said, just go into it, then surf back. Do a few runs 'till
you're tired, then pack up. His attitude was calm and I got the
sense that he didn't mind keeping one eye on me. So I went for it.
He was looking at me close at first, then he blasted off toward
Strawberry point. I struggled until I got pooped, turned it around
and was thinking: “yeah, me and my buddy Greg. Wait till I tell the
guys that weenied out.” I did two more to windward, and that last
time I was hammered flat. That's when I noticed that I was wobbly
and couldn't focus.

I hulied just at the end of that downwind run and there was Greg outa
nowhere. I was smart about hangin onto my boat, but in a blink my
paddle was ten yard away. Greg somehow got my paddle and brought it
back to me. That was an amazing sight to see. I think he was on his
Speedster. Anyway, it was all I could do to drag my shit back to the
truck. The story was no longer cool enough to tell anyone about.

I have another story about dumping five or six times in the bay with
Larry B. and Dennis Mowrey. By then I knew about holding onto paddle
and boat no matter what. On this trip I got a taste of hypothermia.
I remember thinking: “I can see the face of God. That means he can
see me and it's time to decide now if I'm done.” So that's when I
fugured out that the paddle should not do anything but keep me on top
of the boat. I learned a bunch from this one.

Just after I bought the Speedster I dumped in that lumpy patch in
front of the Gazebo on a Wednesday nighter. I had heard about using
the paddle to swim with and tried to catch my boat. The problem with
this technique is that it takes huge power. I got close, but
couldn't catch the boat. I could barely sit upright after we fetched
up against the shore. It was amazing how fast the boat had gotten
away.

My last story is about taking Ryler on a storm paddle. We went to
Marine park and he showed up w/o paddle leash. An unwanted vision
entered my head, so we went up to Lake Padden instead. I have never
seen anything like this before: the wind (Williwa's, I think they're
called) would pick up water off of the lake and make a huge wall of
mist go blasting across the lake. It took both of us to handle one
boat at a time. We did several loops and I kept watching for one of
those Williwa's. They seemed to come in sets at the West end. Sure
enough one came about when I thought. The sound was scary as hell.
I had made the turn into it at the right time. Not Ryler. He said
he was blown off the boat.

We fished all the pieces together, finished that loop and packed up.
This was all perfect for me. I wanted the guy to have a humbling
experience and he did. I've given Ry a paddle leash and hope like
hell he uses it. Like most of us paddlers, he can summon huge level
of effort at crunch time. Maybe that's what is so addictive: the
edge, the zone, or whatever.

Man, I sure love this sport.

rd