Having spent one delightful day playing in the waves on the Florida gulf coast five years before, I was sure I was ready for something a little more substantial. It took a little work, but I finally located a whitewater kayak for rent. It was a Perception Spirit that the store kept above the door as a novelty item, and it had only been paddled once before. The guys in the shop tried to talk me into renting a sit on top, a waveski, and then resorted to telling me that I would die if I took the Spirit out in big waves. I agreed that it was not the best craft for the job, but argued that I was a whitewater paddler and therefore was safer in a whitewater boat. I signed extensive waivers, picked up my rented 210 cm ocean paddle, and headed off with a store employee who said he would drive me over and probably just watch.
The north shore of Oahu has some significant surf in early January, and this day some of the waves were about as tall (trough to peak...I don't know how ocean people measure them) as Baby Falls. We're talkin' walls of water out there!! I donned my sprayskirt and pfd and looked at the rocky shore and cringed, wishing that I had a helmet. Ordinarily this would have been the point at which I gave up, but I don't get to Hawaii that often, so I hopped in the boat and paddled on out. I had no idea what the proper technique was for getting out through waves that big, so I leaned back and rocket moved off the tops of them and did my best to paddle over. I was doing really well until I got out to where they were breaking. Right as I was about to plant the stroke and paddle over the wave, that sucker broke right on my melon. I can't do the calculus to figure how much water is in a wave 15 ft high, but it is roughly a metric shitload, and it will hurt when something like this hits you...kindof like being hit by a truck. I went vertical, the paddle was torn from my hands, and I pirouetted and landed sidesurfing....and was windowshaded. I planted my hands on the foampile, pulled myself out of the water, and surfed for dear life...I don't think we're in Hellhole any more, Toto!! Nervous business rolling on a wave when you have no helmet and you can see rocks sticking out in the troughs in front of you. I made it to shore with only one more roll. In the last 20 yards or so before I hit the beach I realized that there was a very interested and worried crowd watching my progress. Being an experienced whitewater paddler, I knew exactly what to do in that situation...I waved, tried to look cool, and put on my best "I meant to do that" look. I was pulling it off pretty well until I had to turn around and hand paddle back out to get that stick...