Have kayak, will travel…hopefully
So I had the bright idea to try to bring my kayak to Hawaii to play in the waves. a) being that my surfing skills suck. b) my kayak is borderline old enough to belong in a museum. I keep getting “I used to love that boat back in the day…” I’m assuming they don’t mean last weekend.
So I called up the airline to make sure they don’t mind me jamming my boat in the overhead bin next to all the other clueless travelers that try to claim their refrigerator is within carryon size. After a quick call to the airline I come to find that there are no kayaks allowed. No Exceptions! So of course I have to ask “Surfboards? ok. in carry bags? ok. same length as my kayak? ok. hmmm, interesting.”
After a few calls, one of my friends who just got back from Bolivia with his kayak offered up his black tarp which worked for his boat. So I duct taped my paddle to the side of the boat. wrapped a few pieces of plastic around it so it looked like a surfboard then duct taped the rest of the tarp around it. Pretty convincing ‘surfboard’ really. No problem getting it on the plane ($115 later) despite the guy in line behind me insisting that it looks exactly like a kayak wrapped in a tarp. (Common dude, just drop it.)
This morning I headed out to one of the “locals only” type surf spots that I’ve scouted out from one of the cliffs. Usually at least 20 people waiting in the lineup. I packed up at about 5am (I’m not really that agro, just haven’t adjusted to the time change yet) and got my mind set straight to sweet talk any angry dawn patrol regulars. What I didn’t expect was for it to be completely empty. Whoohoo. (Maybe it was because the surf report said it was gonna suck. The lack of crowds definitely saved everyone from having to see my serious lack of tan. (Thanks to my brother for pointing that one out to me.) So I paddled out to the perfect point break…all the while noticing the reef a good 2-3 feet deep. I was surprised by the number of good waves. Pictures to follow…
