Day 61 - Valley 'Storm'

You gotta love when the surf is good and you start getting phone calls from folks looking for private surf lessons. Like I need an excuse to get out there anyway. Today I was on the water with a young man named Devin who is in town with his family on a college campus touring trip for his older sister. After a few days of touring local schools, today was Devin's day, and he wanted to surf. Smart kid...never mind college...kayak surfing is where it's at. Devin has been whitewater kayaking for a few years with his father in Colorado. After a quick interview I had a sense that he might be able to handle the (no pretty sand beach so don't come out of your boat) surfing that is to be had at Sunset Cliffs. At the cliffs you launch off of rocks and come back in onto rocks, if you end up out of your boat things can get interesting. I put Devin in the carbon kevlar Rush thinking the lighter boat would help him maneuver while I jumped in the plastic Valley Storm.

It was obvious that Devin has handled rough water before and he picked things up in a hurry. Like many river boaters in the ocean for the first time he tripped up the edging a bit at first but got that figured out and was on his way. A few of the sets were over head and moving fast which proved to be a bit too much for one who is trying to learn so we concentrated on the smaller sets or reformed waves further inside. Devin caught several nice long rides, and like so many young people I've worked with, he didn't need instruction so much as gear and someone to point him in the right direction.

Most of the better waves went to Devin but I would catch one now and then giving me a chance to put the Storm through its paces. The Storm is the first finned surf boat I ever paddled and because of that it's the first boat I ever really surfed. It is patterned after the composite Rush and has the potential to do some pretty lively maneuvers on the waves. The only thing that holds it back is its weight but that's the price you pay for a boat that you don't have to worry about around rocks. Staying alert and prerotating is vitally important in the Storm so you maintain all the speed you can. Once you're doing that you can have a lot of fun in the Storm.

Storm Review

Manufacturer = Valley Sea Kayaks
Brand = Valley
Model = Storm
Type = Surf
Material = Plastic
Length = 7'-10"
Width = 24.5"
Weight = 30 lbs.

Location = Sunset Cliffs (private surf lesson)
Time = 9:00 AM
Distance = N/A
Duration = 2:00
Avg. Speed = N/A
Conditions = Partly cloudy, little wind, 2'-3' waves