Surfing Waves

I tried it with my 8'6 with 2+1 fin 64L board.

This is not me in the video but the same thing happened to me. I took off earlier than the guy but I was unable to gain enough speed so the wave took me out.

Believe me most on the forum would be caught short on that wave!
The beatings to wave made ratio would be high!

Factorin the offshore nose holding up, a challenge.

It’s not about speed ( well, you need a strong speed from the paddle ). It’s about setting your rail and getting drive from the steepness of the face.
What was your technique that you used ? If you didn’t grab rail going back side, I don’t think you could make it.

I was on my feet for about two seconds, instead of leaning into the wave. I decided I was going to bail so I angle my nose towards the beach. It was so quick that I didn't even know what happened. I think the tail lifted and next thing I know is that my feet isn't on the board and my face is smacking the water.

I was in and out the water after 20 mins because I was all bruised up and I know if I try any more I would probably end up hurting myself or others badly.

This is my local break and I usually don't go in when it is above 5 feet. I just thought my 10 days surf safari in SoCal would allow me to conquer this.

The problem with longboards is they are difficult to generate speed with turns so generally you have to do it with positioning on the wave and the board. Theoretically you can do speed turns with a longboard (i can) but the wave needs to be steep and you need to be standing on the tail but the turns will be slower than a shorter board due to having to swing the length of it around. One thing I can say about waves like that is that you need to know where to take off on them and which waves to take. This is ignoring the ability to paddle into them and take the drop. So many skills to learn in surfing. I think there are different responses to scary situations. Some people when they get into a scary situation are like a deer in the headlights, they just freeze up. I guess I can understand that a bit because I have experienced it myself very long ago. You can't have that response to surf waves like that. You need quick reflexes. When I surf scary waves I am alert to everything, I see, I feel, I hear but I don't think much and rely on my reflexes.

BaNZ wrote:This is my local break and I usually don't go in when it is above 5 feet. I just thought my 10 days surf safari in SoCal would allow me to conquer this.

5 feet is less than head high...I think you might be limiting your surfing experience. Around head-high is when the fun really starts.

Why not just get a cheap shortboard with a healthy amount of rocker for the good days? Plenty of those on craigslist.

kookextraordinaire wrote:

BaNZ wrote:This is my local break and I usually don't go in when it is above 5 feet. I just thought my 10 days surf safari in SoCal would allow me to conquer this.

5 feet is less than head high...I think you might be limiting your surfing experience. Around head-high is when the fun really starts.

Why not just get a cheap shortboard with a healthy amount of rocker for the good days? Plenty of those on craigslist.

On this beach break, 5 feet has a ton of water and super steep very fast. I tried really hard yesterday, I was popping up and when I look down the line. I wasn't able to out run the wave. If I had a longer board, maybe I can catch it further out but very likely to break the board when it dumps you onto shallow water.

I did a 6'3 fish till I sold it, I wasn't able to ride it back then and I won't be able to ride it now. Rented a 6'8 beater board once, I was able to catch small waves but I don't think I'll survive if I bring it out at 5 feet.

My friends are convincing to try bodyboarding with them. At least that won't hurt as much when you get hit by your own board?

If you have never tried bodybooarding it might be a blast for you. I was a bodyboarder before I was a surfer and it took me a couple years to get to where I was at bodyboarding. Bodysurfing took me years to get good at it but bodyboarding was fairly rapid. I guess though that you still need to learn where to be and which waves to catch. I never used a boogie board so the board was always a little danger but I never got hurt by it much. I guess you could say the same about me for surfing though.