Surf Kayaking at its Best!

By Devon Barker

After a week in Wilmington, NC and in Raleigh visiting
my 13 cousins and picking up Eric at the airport I
headed to Outer Banks, OBX, for a day of training
before the Surf Kayak Team Trials began.

I arrived to the Outer Banks, NC in time for a sunset
session at mile marker 8. We paddled out, as the sun
was already low on the horizon. The waves were the
biggest of the weekend. I was paddling my 9-foot
International Class kayak as the sun cast a gold and
pink pearl hue on the water. I was flat spinning in
the most beautiful water on head high waves. I caught
another set of waves and another until it was hard to
see the shore before I paddled in to the beach.

The weekend brought 70-degree weather and more great
surfing at mile marker 6. I took both of my heats on
Saturday but did break my International kayak on my
last ride trying to do a tail slash (like a cartwheel
end) as my finish move. I knew I broke it as I
tumbled in the shore break out of control with almost
as much sand as salty water covering me. My Salmon
River friend, Eric Miller, took first in his masters’
class in High Performance at the end of the day. Russ
Buskirk has let me use his Murky Waters Reaction for
HP this spring. Thanks Russ- you can see the Reaction
catching air in the attached photos.

Ed from Murky Waters was there and he took a look at
my kayak and made some recommendations for reinforcing
my kayak with better seams in addition to some knew
patches. I duct taped it back together with the help
of his wife, Mariola but then decided I better not
paddle it on Sunday or I might lose the whole stern.
The seam was split 2 1/2 feet and cracked four inches
around the hull and top. My friend Michael is doing
the repair in trade for a kayak paddle. In my mind one
problem was solved but I had to find an IC kayak for
Sunday. Anthony Bell and Joey Hall came to the rescue
and both offered their kayaks as they had already
qualified for the US Surf Kayak Team.

Sunday brought rain and wind with smaller waves but
really hard shore break. I took my IC heat again but
could not catch a third wave in high performance to
even be close to taking the heat. I tumbled in the
shore break knowing I had lost the heat. Eric did it
again at the end of the day. He won his heat and will
be headed to the Worlds in Mundaka, Spain- The Basque
land with me next October 18-28th. We are so proud to
represent the USA in surf kayaking even though I call
us “Inland Surfers.”

I flew back to Spokane, Washington and surfed today on
the Spokane River at Mini Climax with all of my
friends. It was 50 degrees with snow on the hills all
around us. Jud Keiser was hitting really big loops.
It was my first time surfing Mini Climax, which is
just upstream of Sullivan Hole. It was pretty flushy
but when you did plug your bow just right my star went
flying into the air. About 6,000 cfs on the Spokane
River at Spokane, Washington gauge is perfect for this
spot.

The wind was blowing as I put my down coat on and
jumped in the car to warm up. Just the day before I
had on shorts and a tank top on the beach to face the
sun and watching the kayak surfing.

You can read more about all the comps at
www.eskasurf.com

Inland surfing at its best,
devon