The Global Paddling Community

While surfers can be territorial, any tension you run into when kayaking will probably be a result of ignorance on the part of the kayaker, the surfer, or both. Kayakers often have very little knowledge of surfing etiquette and accidentally offend surfers by breaching their understood rules. Surfers, often ignorant of kayaks, may assume that you know nothing about surfing or etiquette and will probably be getting in the way or 'stealing' their break. If you do get in their way you deserve a little correction, try to apologize and be diplomatic. And, of course, some rare people are just idiots. I've seen surfers yell at each other, bodyboarders, probably even the fish. Just give them some room and ignore them if possible.

Since surfers already know the rules, it is the job of kayakers to get a basic understanding before even getting near the guys on boards. This is simply a matter of respect which everyone, in or on any surfing craft, should attend to. After all, think of how we would react if we were sitting 20 people deep in an eddy waiting for a ride on a good river wave and some guy on a surfboard paddled right up to the front of the line and hopped on the wave. Everybody in line would be pretty pissed off and more than one person would probably let him know.

So, you're probably thinking "great, where do I find these mysterious rules." Like most people, I learned from surfers but I have the benefit of living at the beach. You can start out by reading the article below which I got from the San Onofre Surf kayak page: http://members.aol.com/Kayaksrfrs/main.html .

Beyond what you will read there, just use basic common sense. Even friendly surfers will have a little apprehension when they see kayaks coming their way. Help the relations for us all by giving them some room, A LOT of room if you are a beginner. It doesn't hurt to catch some good waves and ride them with style and control while throwing in some cool moves. They will relax some when they see you can avoid plowing them over and breaking their fragile boards.

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