A week or so ago, Mike Olson, Washington surfing pioneer and one of the founders of Lib Tech, stopped by Urban Surf to drop off an old treasure.
For those uninterested in dictionaries, “prone” does not only mean ‘liable to do something negative’, it is also a word for lying on your stomach. “Going Prone” is something you can do on all sorts of watercraft, including surfboards and Prone Paddle Boards, which is what Mike Olson brought in.
This beauty was shaped sometime in the 1900s by another pioneering surfing legend, the Californian Dale Velzy (1927-2005).
I was initially drawn to the craftsmanship of the board and its wooden ship-like design, well-fit for a seafaring hydrophile like myself.
Noticing my interest in the paddle board, Cole and Matt put me up to a challenge. I guess they wanted to see how I fared in the big open water between Edmonds and Golden Gardens.
A few days later I jumped into a peeling anklebiter-lefthand point break waves at Golden Gardens, caused by southerly wind whipping nearly 30 knots. My coworker Cole and I had decided to do a “downwinder” from Golden Gardens to Edmonds.
In order to prepare for my adventure I listened to Sea Wolf by Jack London. The story describes a vagabond couple who must escape a tyrannical sea captain, Wolf Larsen. To flee the Master’s schooner, the previously intellectual, Humphrey Van Weyden and Maud Brewster are compelled to travel by skiff through the open ocean.
We took out our Urban Surf demo-prone-board produced by Bark. I thought I’d be able to paddle on my knees to alternate positions for muscular relief, but the wind chop and swell consistently blew me over. Eventually I resigned to paddle on my stomach and ripped off my gloves to minimize the weight on my hands. Cole’s speed could reach nearly 20 miles per hour, while my max speed was probably around 5 mph. Cole was patient in waiting for me but eventually suggested that I paddle in at Richmond Beach, so as to make it to shore before night. Cole then ripped toward Edmonds at max speed. Everything worked out smoothly and I ended up in his van less than an hour later.
You’d think that the experience would turn me off prone paddling for good, but no. I actually did enjoy it. Living far from the coast, but loving surfing is a difficult circumstance to balance. I figure there are two motions I can really “train” at home, one is paddling prone and the leg movements would easily be satisfied with skateboarding. Putting these two together regularly, I understand that I’ll probably hit the water as a more competent surfer, without needing to surf every day.
Additionally, prone paddling brings in a tradition in surfing that extends out of the pure sport of surfing and into the traditional, spiritual and even indigenous practice of being a waterman. There’s a lot that can be done in this regard and I cannot claim to have mastered any of the many of the faucets, which include freediving, spearfishing, sailing, canoeing, and these days extend into realms related to wind and foil.
There are many ways to enjoy the water, and on what better craft than made or endorsed by people you look up to.
Luckily, thanks to my monthly Urban Surf check, picking up the Velzy wasn’t something I really had to think twice about, so now she’s mine and chillin’ in the basement, waiting for the next session.
Author
River Halsey Bradford Patterson
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