Surfing Waves

Hi All,
Broke my board today surfing shoulder high hurricane swell in New York. Beach break waves were good shape with light offshore winds but short rides both left and right that closed-out pretty quickly in about stomach deep water. I saw the close-out coming and pulled high up to the top of the wave and was launched off my board to behind the wave. When I came up and reeled in the leash my board was in two pieces.

I'd like to learn something from my misfortune So my question is: Am I to blame? Should I be doing something different at the end of waves especially ones like this? i.e. Should I have pulled out earlier or turned toward the beach and tried to ride the close? OR is this just something that happens when all the conditions are aligned?

I'm an intermediate surfer- got my catching, drops, and turns down solid (still working on the noseriding) and have lots of experience in the past 3 years (surfing US East coast, Nantucket, OBX and Costa Rica spots everything from thigh high to head high). My board was a 9'2 NSP epoxy that I bought used, but in great shape, from a surshop rental fleet and surfed on for the 3 years I've been back to surfing.
Thanks for any insights you can share!

EEEk Bajo, that was not good luck but it may be nature's way of telling you "it's time to upgrade your board".

My sympathy for the dear departed. There is a skill that may have helped you that is resurrected from the olde old longboard days called the flickout/kickout, where you drop rapidly down for a bottom turn and use the power and a really good kick push to propel the board skyward and over the back of the wave. It was a much needed skill before leashes. There is also the rapidly turn towards the beach technique,lie down, grip the rails and be shot shorewards. That way the wave has to break your back before it breaks the board.

BRIGHT SIDE, nice new board is needed

Thanks again Jaffa. I don't know if it broke when I hit the lip (which I've heard can happen) or if it got carried over the falls and smashed. I don't think I could have handled a kick flip (esp. in this situation) but I might have been able to make the quick turn to the beach, lie down and hold onto the rails for the explosion. But should I try to do that as a general practice (as a preventative measure) or was this just a fluke thing that could have happened regardless?

Onto the new board! I've been eyeing a Walden Magic Model but I haven't managed to find one to try out. I like what I've read about it but am worried that the double concave, rocker, and tail kick might make it paddle considerably slower than what I was used to on the NSP (which was real flat through the middle with only a very slight nose concave- perfect for US East Coast) Also considering a Wingnut2 which is supposed to be relatively flat and fast. Anyone have any experience with them?

Bajo don't worry about the double concave slowing you down conclaves won't, the tail rocker will make the board turn more like a short board and a little slower in paddling, nose rocker effectively shortens the paddling length of the board and slows the board more than tail rocker but neither is a real problem unless they are extreme if you are paddle fit then the Walden will be fine as will the Wingnut.
Look to see that the boards are not too fine in volume, avoid so called performance models.

As for breaking the board , just one of those freak things, often if you look where a board breaks you can find an old dent or ding in the rail a compression in the deck or bottom along the line of breakage.

We had the same swell (thanks Leslie!) here in NJ on Sunday. Super-fun, but steep drops, more powerful waves than we usually see, and some brutal closeouts. Given the amount of glass that I saw getting ejected from some of the bigger set waves, I'm not surprised that there were boards breaking. Sounds like your board led a pretty hard life before you got it and probably had a weak spot somewhere like Jaffa said. But after the lackluster summer we had, a day like that was kinda worth the risk, right?

Jaffa you are the man! I really appreciate the advice from a seasoned veteran, especially at these critical cross-roads of surfing life.
As a follow-up, I decided to go with a local shaper Natures Shapes for my new board. Here's my new dilemmas given the amount of cash I'm going to throw down: Should I pick-up the stock board they had that suited me or should I slow down, take some time to figure out exactly what I want, and then have them make me one?

On the stock board side, they had two 9 footers that were in the range of my specs. The shop-owner talked me into the epoxy glassed vs. the poly (that's an argument I don't think I want to get into here). The board was everything, as of right now, that I know I want (an all-arounder performance LB that will also noseride, in the 9 to 9'2 range with a width between 22 1/2 to 23, and fairly flat through the middle). The problem, of course being that I don't know all the things I MIGHT want, having only experienced a handful of rental boards on two trips to Costa Rica.

It also has a 2+1 setup and I always rode my old board as a single (once I took out those sidebites, I never put them back in). Is it better to have the option (even if I will probably never use it) or to have smooth hips with a single box? Jaffa, you mentioned once that sidebites "open up the top of the wave" or something like that and I've always wanted to ask you what exactly you meant by that?

On the waiting side, I still have my 7'3 Superfish to get me by and maybe I'll fall in love with it again and change my trajectory towards more short boarding but I HATE duck-diving it when the waves get bigger- that and the slower paddle wears me out. I know I'll miss the cruise, too, especially on smaller days.

Thoughts?