As we approached the weekend of our planned Mega Kayaks Surfing event the weather was forcing our hand to make some changes. Thursday night saw extremely heavy rain and storm conditions sweep through the Jervis Bay area whipping up huge seas and flooding the camp site area. As we had people traveling from as far away as Tasmania we decided to still run a Skills Session on the Saturday and hopefully find somewhere to Free Surf on the Sunday. Having to make plans very flexible and with the weather forecast so unpredictable we postponed the people traveling locally in the hope to re-schedule another event with better conditions in the near future.
With alternative warm and dry Cabin accommodation arranged we met on Saturday morning to marginally better weather. Whilst Cave beach was still 6ft to 8ft of solid pumping southerly swell, it was going to be sheltered from the wind all day and allow us to work on practice drills in the breaking re-form area close to the beach.
The group was instructed individually on areas of surf kayaking such as edge control, timing, positioning and paddle out take offs in the white water zone with everyone learning something new or refining techniques. After a fairly physical first session the group stopped for morning tea and checked local conditions at the river mouth close by. We decided to have another crack out in the Caves re-form before heading for lunch and shifting to the other surf spot to catch the incoming tide.
Conditions cleaned up beautifully as the afternoon wore on and whilst some brushed up on their rolling techniques in the calm river entrance others were enjoying the much smaller and smoother left and rights on offer till another storm loomed in the distance and led us all to make a hasty retreat to freshen up for Dinner in Huskisson.
Sunday we were surprised to wake to 2ft/3ft southerly swell at Caves with strong off shore winds grooming the faces clean. What a difference a day can make. As everyone was relaxing into a fun morning session the sun even poked it's head out briefly to give us a glimpse of blue sky and highlight the crystal clear water conditions. More practice time was dedicated to trimming on the waves to maximize speed across the face and really using the whole wave face from top to bottom to get the most out of your ride . We also worked on body position for control and not just relying on the paddle. I think by the time we wrapped the session at lunch time everyone was well and truly surfed out but excited about the next Mega surf event!!
I would love to thank all those that still had to travel and we look forward to getting everyone back for another weekend of surfing really soon.
Tracy Gibson
Mega Surf Kayaks Australia
