Video thread

Nice.
Very relaxing to watch. I'd love to paddle in water that blue someday.

Thought I'd share my recent VEGA Flex DW on The Cut Run - 1st downwinder on a ski, in over 7 yrs and the Flex was soooo good! 

(my ski fitness not sooo good!!)

Tip - watch on a big screen TV in 4K!

We've been having a miserable winter surfskiing season so far in Santa Barbara but yesterday everything finally lined up and I managed my first sub-6-minute mile at 10.4mph avg (16.7km/h), and that almost to the day on my 3-year surfskiing anniversary
It's amazing how fine the line is between conditions where I just scramble to try to get onto runners that are too fast and uncatchable vs. where I can hop onto waves with a few strong strokes and then zoom from wave to wave...
Anyway, short clip of 30s over 11mph

Nice work tve. That is really fast. Is that a gara freya paddle?

Thorsten, that was Tuesday? Perfect conditions! I've been meaning to get up to SB for a downwinder with you. We should do a run in the next couple weekends depending on how the wind looks. Is that the V12g3 you're on?

I recently got a GoPro and wanted to see how nasty the ocean was Monday with 35kt winds. It took me the better part of 8 minutes to go 200 yards upwind and back (7 mins up, 1 minute down). Wind direction sucked though, about 315° which was no good. What a difference a day makes! Yours looks more fun

Until Monday, I have never seen 4 feet of a wave crumble in open water, which I saw on some 12-14 footers in this video. The go pro makes it looks smaller but this had consistent 12' swell. I've had up to 2 feet of wave break on me off shore many times, but never 1/3 of a 12'+ wave. It was nuts. Not surfable at all though. I just wanted to look the beast in the face for a few minutes. Sunday was more manageable, 8' with 20kts wind. That was a ripping good time, but didnt get any video of it. On Sunday just like you say the conditions were perfect. The wind waves were just perfect to boost you onto ground swell. I set a record for # of waves jumped on sunday. 

Paddle is a gara odin small. I love it, might try a medium some day, but I fear my shoulders would kill me...

MCImes wrote: Thorsten, that was Tuesday? Perfect conditions!

Yup, that was tuesday. Sunday was awful for me, howling and big waves but too confused and too fast. I'd try to gain speed on small waves and see a nice trough opening up right in front of me and the moment I thought I'd be zooming into it a big swell would sneak up from behind and literally suck me back, game-over...

Tuesday much smaller but much better. The video was part of a 4.4mi non-stop DW at 9.2mph (14.8km/h) average. I've never done anything even remotely close to that before. Heart rate was 170bpm average! (182 is my max)

Before the DW I went 1hr upwind until I just couldn't anymore, i.e., my speed dropped below 3mph, The speed graph is entertaining:

Around minute 10 I start heading into the wind just outside the harbor at a "good 5+mph clip" but by the time it gets to minute 60 I'm below 3mph (I'm rounding a point and gradually get more and more into the wind coming out of the W). Then the amazing DW, followed by a rest where I'm pondering about alternatives to paddling 2mi upwind to get home, and then 25 minutes back up. 10mi total, close to 2hrs, followed by shower, dinner, zombie-mode, sleep.

The course was the "Santa Barbara Coat Hanger":


NB: I was in my V10g3. Given that I was alone and the water temps have dropped to 54F I didn't want the additional risk of the V12...

Great work MCImes, messy there for sure. You did well paddling into 30 knots plus, anything over 25-28 is almost marking time. Couple of big bombies coming through as you turned, shame you couldn't get onto them down and across! We had a great blow yesterday and today here Perth 25 knots plus almost directly behind, today moreso but couldn't get out unfortunately. Know what you mean about getting sucked back on those big ones - persevere and give it absolute shit and you'll pull on up and over the falls!

Awe yes, good times at the Ventura harbor entrance.
Couldn't help but reposting some old photos,

@tve ha ha, ya, when you overshoot the harbor it always feels longer than it really is to get back. That's a nice little DW loop you can do solo.

@Watto I could have dropped in on the big one at 6:50 and was very tempted to, I started to sprint on it then let up. But I was too close to the break line and didnt feel comfortable about having enough time to recover if I got broached, which I deemed likely. Better judgement said let it pass. That and the wind was coming from about 315° which is a bad angle at the harbor. Notmally we get 270° winds that run straight into shore and parallel to the jetties around the harbor. at 315 the wind would have blown me into the break line and then into a jetty, so I was more conservative. I was hoping to fight my way 1/4 mile past the sea wall and ride some of those in, but the wind made it nearly impossible.

@Fath2o Those are great pics Kirk. I was tempted to ride a couple in, but isnt that how you destroyed multiple boats I already did 2 repairs from an unfortunate ride into the beach last spring. I'm trying not to destroy my SF until I can swing a Vega. I've passes your boat a few times but havent seen you. Making it out much these days?

Thanks to both Mcimes and tve for the wonderful videos and the details on the routes and conditions. I got a kick out of the graph.

Makes me miss paddling even more now, though! That southern CA freight train of moisture became my 5 hours of shoveling snow on Wednesday, and my husband did a similar amount also. I'd rather be paddling.

tve/MCimes,

Thanks for vid and info up in your hood for this last wind event! As you know, video doesn't do the size justice.
I did a Leo Carrillo to Redondo run Monday, OC1, it was an angry ocean and it definitely did not want to play!  Rounding Dume was sustained 35 built to 40, with that increasing West swell filling in and it just built all the way down the pipe! Needless to say the steep dropping tide made things even more sketchy coming into Redondo BW, insane!! Hopefully more wind soon, lighter, so we can all put the bow downhill.

fath2o... Awesome pictures of Ventura!

MCImes lovely video. Beautiful sunset colors, great rippled texture on the water, and big bumps. I am jealous. Water is very flat and very still in MN right now. 

Another messy one last weekend. Surfing sucked, groundswell was too fast and shallow. Waves coming from every direction. Had a couple good runs. Overall it was better than a flat day though. Did a couple remounts. Nothing spectacular, but fun none the less.

As I was taking my boat out a guy stopped by from Harbor partol and asked if I saw anyone out there. I told him no but likely would not have seen anyone unless I ran into them with my boat. In consistent 6'+ conditions your visibility is a couple-few waves ahead for a couple seconds at a time. Hearing anything is out of the question.

I found out 2 girls did a downwind on Outriggers from Carpenteria trying to get to the ventura harbor? They bailed out about half way and were found OK on a beach. I didnt put it together at the time but a coast guard chopper passed by me as it headed their way, then on the way back seemed to modify its heading slightly to check me out a little closer, but didnt slow down. I was near the harbor mouth by that point.

Video begins after about an hour of paddling. I paddled out a mile and did 1 intentional remount practice, then I fell over while I was getting situated and remounted again. The camera fell out of its pouch on the 2nd attempt.

I had a really fun run from 3:40 to about 6:30. that's the best surfing and the run at 3:40 was screaming fast. I was tempted to go back out today as it will be raging, but the wind is NW which makes for sloppy conditions instead of the cleaner conditions from a West wind.

I was out several times this week-end as well and had similar experience: nothing really came together. Big stuff too fast, wind too much from the side, getting whacked around a lot, good runs aborted by wave hitting from the side and spinning the surfski around. I tried Goleta Beach yesterday, conditions better, except for the fact that I was down to 2mph going upwind as soon as I got to the point into the real stuff, that hurts...
I'm still trying to understand how much is lack of skill & experience and how much is mission impossible.

MCImes, 

Glad you guys up north are getting out and having fun, it's been good down here as well.

Regarding the gals, that is inaccurate! For the sake of the  rumor mill, I know both of these very competent women outrigger paddlers, they were both fine and both made it from Carpinteria to Ventura with their own skills. They did NOT activate their radios nor require help!  When they launched a family was on the beach, when they didn't return in the next couple hours, the family called 911/CG and thus began helicopter and boats being activated.  It's crazy how these stories unfold...  Anyway, that's the short accurate account. We all need to arrive alive, have appropriate safety equipment, float plan, etc., which they both had.

Still hoping to get up your way when conditions look ripe.

Keep at the video's, good stuff!

@Venicebum Crazy, they were totally fine and someone called it in? Wow. I have never even thought of having a random person call me in. I guess I should call it in to the harbor patrol and tell them to only come looking for me if they get contacted by GEOS or my wife.
I would be pissed (and they would be too im sure) if the CG wasted their time looking for me while im out having a good time.

The funny part is who would return to Carp with a NW wind? It was clearly a downwind sorta day. Clearly the folks on the beach weren't paddlers. Also, I need to meet these ladies. They are adequately hard core for me. I need to find more paddlers that see 8' waves and think Lets Go!

Would be interesting to hear what went wrong so we can all learn (if the coast guard was activated something clearly did go wrong, maybe not with the paddlers).

I always feel super safe out there and kept asking more experienced surfskiiers about near misses. Had to probe quite hard. One told me about surfing down an awesome wave and suddenly seeing the tip of his ski go under a patch of kelp with the result that the kelp almost strangled him and it took him a very long time to get loose again. Since then I notice that little fisherman's buoys have an uncanny ability to attract surfskis coming down a wave no matter what I do with the rudder...

BTW, problem with these types of outings is that the moment you leave the harbor/beach you've accepted responsibility for the other paddlers in some way or another. You agreed to stay less than a mile from shore? What do you do when one of the others heads straight out ahead of you? Or shows up without a life jacket? Or just races ahead when you thought you were not paddling all alone out there? At some level, unless you've paddle with someone multiple times before and know how they behave you're probably better off doing a long DW on your own than in their company, at least you only have yourself to keep track of...

MCIimes,

Yes, the family on the beach called it in. And they were upset the resources that responded and the flip side had it been a true emergency those resources would be needed, and given conditions that day, wise call. Those guys, CG, love flying anyway. Haha One of these days I'll introduce you guys.

tve,

Given 2 people on outriggers were last observed leaving a beach and these "witnesses" called 911/CG will get involved and do a "welfare" check... That's how the system works, good or bad.  I totally hear you about other people not being prepared. For me, I have a hard stop and will not paddle with people not adequately equipped, people know what to bring.  99% I paddle solo but  when I go with others, we ALL know we must be 100% self contained and NOT rely on anyone. Yes, we buddy paddle but  as you know it's damn near impossible to backtrack let alone help another SS or canoe in conditions.  Agree... they have done multiple DW together and are both rigid safety conscious.
One key learn for this... CG was trying to communicate with them, the wind was limiting hearing, is keep your VHF on 16 and keep radio ON for entire paddle, CG tried reaching  them on 16 but they were just paddling having fun. CG realized they were competent they flew for a bit and watched. Knowing water/dive hand signals good as well.

Let's get some wind, to get this thread back on track. Haha  Be safe out there!

Very nice  MCImes ,
Those waves look hugeeee.  The kind of waves that would have me shaking thinking about flipping when surfing down.