Sea kayaking is my passion.
There is something about loading up a sea kayak, heading down to the water and knowing that the day’s possibilities are pretty much endless. A bit of swell, some tide, a headland to round or simply a few hours exploring the coastline. It is the discipline that consumes my work and personal life. The opportunities for life long learning and progression make it a great sport with so many environments and avenues to master: surf, rock hopping, open water crossings, expedition, sailing, fishing – the list goes on.
But over the years I’ve become increasingly convinced that being a good sea kayaker doesn’t mean only paddling a sea kayak.
In fact some of the best lessons I’ve learnt have come from completely different boats and different bits of water.
Skills are skills
One of the things I love about paddlesport is how much crossover there is between disciplines.
Balance, edging, pressure, body position, blade work, reading water and developing an instinct for what the boat is going to do are all transferable skills. The environment might change and the boat underneath you might look completely different but the fundamentals remain surprisingly similar.
Take rolling. A solid roll is still a solid roll.
Obviously the boat changes how you apply it and every craft has its own characteristics but the fundamental understanding of body position, connection with the boat and using the paddle effectively doesn’t suddenly disappear when you climb into something different.
The same goes for plenty of other skills. Time spent playing in moving water can make you more comfortable when a sea kayak starts getting pushed around by tide. Surfing a different type of boat can improve your understanding of waves. Spending time in a narrow, unstable craft can make you much more aware of your own balance and posture.
You don’t have to become an expert in every discipline either. Sometimes simply stepping outside your normal boat is enough to expose weaknesses, develop new skills and most importantly have a bit of fun.
An old flame: white water
For me, that started with white water kayaking.
I spent a lot of time paddling white water during university and in the years afterwards. I loved the challenge of it. Find some water, throw yourself down it and spend the day getting better at dealing with whatever the river gives you.
The problem was that from Cornwall, white water isn’t exactly on the doorstep.
Dartmoor became the destination for a quick session and as the years went on, the logistics started to become harder to justify. The water levels are unreliable and the reality of driving for hours for what might ultimately be a few laps of the loop isn’t always particularly appealing. I think if I lived closer I would be out all the time but eventually I started looking for something that gave me some of the same excitement without having to dedicate an entire day to the journey.
That’s where surfing came in.
Finding the wave
Surf kayaking has become one of my favourite ways of getting on the water.
The biggest appeal is probably the freedom. You don’t need a long journey or a complicated plan. If there is a decent wave breaking somewhere along the Cornish coast, there is a good chance I can get there fairly easily and spend an hour or two playing.
And surfing a kayak is properly good fun.
I’ve spent a few years trying various high-performance surf kayaks with varying degrees of success. They are incredibly capable boats but I found that the learning curve was pretty steep.
For a sea kayaker coming into surf kayaking, my recommendation would actually be to try an IC boat.
The shape and feel of an IC boat are much more familiar to someone coming from a sea kayaking background. You still get the ability to surf and play on the wave but there is a much more natural crossover in terms of how the boat moves underneath you.
It feels less like learning an entirely new sport and more like taking skills you already have and applying them somewhere new.
And that is exactly what I enjoy about multidiscipline paddling.
The winter surf ski
Surf ski has become another part of that mix for me, especially through the winter.
For me it is less about replacing sea kayaking and more about having another tool in the toolbox.
A surf ski is brilliant for working on stability and forward paddling technique. Because you’re sitting on top of the boat rather than inside it, you get immediate feedback when your balance isn’t quite right. There is nowhere to hide.
It is also a fantastic way of getting some mileage in.
A sea kayaking session can sometimes feel like a military operation. Boat, paddle, buoyancy aid, spraydeck, drysuit, food, spare clothes, first aid, repair kit, lunch, water…
Sometimes I just want to go paddling for an hour.
The surf ski makes that easy. It’s relatively light, quick to get on the water and perfect for a short session from the local beach. No need to turn a one-hour paddle into an all day trip.
Living in Cornwall we are incredibly lucky to have so much varied paddling right on our doorstep. It seems a shame to limit ourselves to one type of boat simply because that is our main discipline.
Make the most of your local water
I think this is probably the biggest reason I enjoy being a multidiscipline paddler.
You can look at the forecast and choose the discipline that suits it.
Big swell? Go surfing.
Calm morning? Take the sea kayak and explore.
A bit of wind and you’re looking for some fitness work? Grab the surf ski.
A river has finally come up? Maybe it’s time to dust off the white water boat.
Instead of waiting for perfect conditions for one particular discipline, you start looking at the water in a different way.
There is always something you can do.
And I think that is a useful mindset for anyone who paddles regularly. Different disciplines don’t have to compete with each other. They can complement each other.
The sea kayak might always be my first choice, but the skills I’ve picked up in white water, surf kayaking and surf ski have all found their way back into my sea kayaking.
More importantly they have kept me excited about getting on the water.
Because ultimately that’s what it’s about.
Try different boats. Paddle different water. Learn from other disciplines. Take the skills you already have and see what happens when you put them somewhere new.
You might just find another way of enjoying the water that was sitting right on your doorstep all along.