Santa Cruz Ocean Spirit

Posted By: Peak UK Published: 24/07/2018

Mathew Lamont Santa Cruz Ocean Spirit

The Santa Cruz Ocean Spirit has hosted a lot of kayak competitions over the years, and this year was no different. This year, there were 3 events - the surf kayak session, waveski session and fun session.

The surf kayak session event ran as two 4 man heats with the best two waves counting, and prizes given to the top 3 across the 2 heats. The waveski session ran the same. After this was the fun session, this was a 45 minute event with prizes for the best wave, best wipeout, best club, best novice and best club.

It was a great day out on the water with the chance to catch up with all the local surfers I hadn't seen since the last time I was at this event. My name was drawn in the first heat which is my favourite heat to surf in, as you get the chance to catch a few waves right before the heat starts as part of your warm up.

Mathew Lamont Santa Cruz Ocean Spirit

I started my heat off with a few smaller waves, doing some big turns and getting a score early on. This allowed me to be more patient and wait for bigger, more powerful waves that could I could get bigger scores on.

I soon caught some bigger waves and was able to pull off a solid re-entry flairing the hull of the boat out towards the judges, and then surfing out of it. My next few waves were off a steep left hand wrapping peak that allowed me to build up lots of speed and throw the boat up towards the lip and into some hard turns. I surfed into the beach just before the heat finished feeling pretty confident in the waves I'd ridden and knowing I didn't have enough time to paddle back out.

Mathew Lamont Santa Cruz Ocean Spirit

I spent the rest of the early afternoon watching some great surfing in the second surf kayak heat and then in waveski, before taking to the water again for the fun session. This was pretty awesome seeing almost everyone from the two session events, as well a lot of people that hadn't surf kayaked before in the water at once. The vibe was really relaxed with everyone pushing each other and cheering for good surfing. I pulled off a few really critical manouvers right in the power pocket of wave, air dropping out of these with tons of speed into the next section.

Mathew Lamont Santa Cruz Ocean Spirit

The fun session ended all too soon, but this was then followed by the prize giving ceremony, I did brilliantly in both of the events and won both the surf kayak session, and the best wave in the fun category, which naturally meant jumping into the pool on the beach, or being pushed into it. I had a great time at the event and I would love to come back again in the future.

 

Article & images: Mathew Lamont