Surf | Blue Dog Kayaking

The West Coast of Vancouver Island is famous for its surf beaches, surf can be challenging for paddlers wanting to land; this course teaches you how!

This program is for intermediate to advanced paddlers looking to progress their skills and abilities in the surf. Any type of rolling will be beneficial to your success in the clinic. This clinic will help you build confidence in the surf, getting onto and off the beach as well as being a ton of fun.

Day one: Afternoon Dry land session (1:30- 3:30)
- Discuss forecasting
- Period vs swell height
- Swell Direction vs locations
- How to determine a safe beach to sea kayak surf.
- Wave reading
- All things safety

Day Two: On the water & in the water
- Surf Launching & Landing
- Side surfing with low braces
- Safely getting off a wave
- Video

Day three: All about the waves (Am session)
- Focused on staying on the wave
- Carving on the waves and transitioning your edges
- Refining Skills from Day two.

**Note: We reserve the right to alter locations and the order of course components as necessary. Factors such as weather as well as course progression may require the schedule to be changed as needed.

Skill Level Required

This workshop is best suited to intermediate paddlers looking to challenge their boat handling skills in surf. You should certainly have a minimum Paddle Canada L1 skills or equivalent and ideally have either completed or considering taking the Paddle Canada L2 skills. The ability to preform a basic roll would be advantageous as being able to roll up rather than wet exit in surf is certainly preferred!. However if you do not have the roll down yet we are happy to provide some rolling coaching for our guests prior to the workshop (see rolling lessons on the website for details).

Above all come with an open mind to learn new skills, have fun and enjoy the challenge.