Surfing Waves

Hi all...new to the forum as well as to surfing. I'm a newbie surfer for about 2 months now and am totally addicted. I just LOVE it. Anyway, I have a beautiful brand new 9'. Well the other day while surfing a newer newbie ran my board over and gave my lovely board a 2 inch gash in the nose.

Now, at first I was not mad because I'd rather it be my board than my head.

However, all she did was say sorry and swim away. Is this just the risk you take surfing or should she have offered some sort of compensation? And if I happen to do this to someone (let's hope not) what should I do?

Again, I am more relieved that it was my board that took the hit, not me or her.

Mahalo!

thats messed up. i would offer to have it repaired if i did that to someone and it was obviously my fault, but it doesnt sound like it was completely her fault. usually people padling into waves are expected to keep out of riders way, but it depends. sometimes people do cutbacks and run into you and technically its your fault i but when youre on a wave, you cant just expect everyone to get out of the way. sometimes youll have like 4 people drop in infront of you at once.

its like if someone rear ends you in a car. technically its their fault, eventhough it might actually be yours for stopping so fast or not using a blinker or whatever.
i say only if its obviously your fault.

south shore is up to 16ft faces yesterday and today. its a good time to go.

I am pretty aware of the people when I paddle out. But this girl, for some reason, was EVERYWHERE I was. I mean, I purposefully paddled away from her and I would turn around and there she was. Oh well, what's done is done.

Thanks for your response!

Not much you can do and I would not expect anyone to pay for the repair of my board... although saying this, If I was in the wrong I would offer to repair it for them.

Yes if you are paddleing out you don't have the right of way but people riding the wave should respect your presence...

There are alot of them out there, but here are some links to information on the basic concepts:
http://www.surfit.com.au/Surfit/Display.asp?ss=5&AID=263&CID=78

http://www.srosurf.com/rules.html
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"its more important to understand than to be understood"

Focus on the poor takeoff and riding decisions. I always hunt a "clear spot" in the lineup and look 360° before taking a wave but you can always make a mistake. It's eff'n scary to see people getting run over from behind.