Dolphins are the Monkeys of the Sea

If I couldn’t grow up to be exactly like I am today, I wanted to be a monkey. Seemed like a fun way to live…swinging and playing all the time. Now that I’m all grown up and not a primate, I still love to play. Mainly playing in the river, since I live in the mountains of western North Carolina. So many people have commented about how fun the Bellyak would be in the ocean, so we went. Spencer Cooke and I recently took a trip to Folly Beach SC to take pictures and test fins. A beautiful day of 2-4 foot waves and a pod of dolphins playing in the background.

I grew up around rivers. The ocean was a place that was hot, full of sand and too many people. Growing up in SC, Myrtle Beach was my association with the ocean. Loud motorcycles, t-shirt shops, too many people who I didn’t want to see not wearing nearly enough clothes, and no waves.

At first, I wasn’t that great at reading the waves. I can read whitewater, as it’s fairly predictable. Gravity, water, rocks…there are only so many variables to learn. The ocean was a different thing altogether. How the waves break in sets, how to anticipate…luckily we had the break to ourselves. I really have a lot to learn about the ocean, but regardless of my lack of experience, I caught a lot of great waves and had a great time.

When I was a kid, I was always afraid of something eating me as I swam past the breakers. Even though I liked it, I thought the great white shark of Myrtle Beach was going to take my legs off. I never had that fear of swimming in the Chattooga or Twelve Mile rivers, as I wasn’t afraid of anything that lived in the river. What does this have to do with the Bellyak? Swimming out on the Bellyak for the first surf of the day, I paddled out past the breakers and headed up the beach. What I loved immediately was that I was a) going fast, and b)felt completely protected by the boat underneath me, and I was still swimming. The first boat I went out on was the Frequency, without a fin. I was able to punch through the incoming waves no problem, it was much like punching through a hole on a river. I caught a few waves to start with, slowly figuring out where I needed to be to catch the best ride. I had a few good rides, and then went in to install the fin. The rear drain on the Frequency holds a longboard finbox perfectly (with slight modification). I was curious to see how this affected the tracking of the boat, and how it influenced surfing.

I put the 9″ fin in first, and paddled out. I immediately noticed how much easier the boat tracked…little or no correction strokes. This fin will be good for those with injuries who use our boats (Wounded Warriors/Team River Runner) as well as for those using our boats for flatwater workouts. I caught my first wave with the fin, and the increased speed the fin provided was immediately noticeable. I was able to hold my line down the face of the wave, and turning was much easier. Whereas before I would just “mush out” at the bottom of the wave, the fin allowed me a lot more control. I never thought I would have as much fun as I did…I caught wave after wave, and when I needed a break, I just stopped paddling! I was already laying down. I also caught a lot of waves on my knees, which provided even more control.

Next up was the Play, which I’d modified with set of thruster fins. I basically guessed at the placement, going on what I’d learned from the internet and my own instinct. This is a fiberglass version of the Play 35 with fins mounted:

This boat was more fun than I imagined. I knew how well the Play series surfed on standing waves in rivers…it surfed great! Very fast and easy to control. åÊI’ve since mounted fins closer to the rail…testing those next.

After a few hours of filming and getting used to the waves, I was completely hooked. The Bellyak is so user friendly in the surf. Granted, I don’t expect anyone to be surfing Mavericks on one of these, but for the thousands of miles of beach in the world that has small to medium sized surf, the Bellyak offers the best of a kayak, a surfboard, and swimming, in one easy to carry package!