One of many skills for surfing

[oldmansurfer]

I was walking my dog along the coastline and saw a sign in front of a hotel saying dangerous shorebreak. It reminded me that when I surfed Kealia there were a number or small ancillary skills in surfing that you acquired. One of them was learning to not fall down when whitewater hits you in the back when you are walking in from a surf. It's not that difficult of a skill , basically you just keep balanced and move your feet forward as if the wave is just helping you to get to the shore instead of trying to resist it's force. All of us local surfers who surfed Kealia regularly knew who was not used to Kealia by who got knocked down coming in. I thought it might be instructive to mention this and wondered if any of you had any ancillary skills to mention from your local breaks?

[oldmansurfer]

Here's the sign. I imagine tourists may be slammed hard by the shorebreak in that area as it's a similar shoreline sloping upwards and deeper just a little way out.

[oldmansurfer]

One other skill valued by the locals where I surfed was using the backwash to ride back out. The part of the beach where most guys paddled out from sloped up a bit so frequently there was significant backwash and we would time it and run down the beach as the water receded and jump in front of the backwash and ride it out. Just learning you would jump on your board laying down and ride it out that way. A little more skill was to stand up and ride it out standing. Even more skill was to jump on your board standing up in the first place.

[BoMan]

Patience.....when

buying equipment
choosing when and where to surf
entering and exiting the water
selecting a wave
deciding the best line for a ride
recovering from injury

[oldmansurfer]

There was some skill in towing a board back out to the surfer in the days before a leash. You would put the toes of one foot on the board and paddle out dragging the other board along. Worked well if you weren't going through the breaking waves which was the usual back in the days before the leash. First you look for someone without their board then you paddle closer to that person staying out of the breaking waves. It took some practice to where it became something not requiring your constant attention.

[waikikikichan]

I have this uncanny ability to make the surfbreak more crowded. Those checking out the waves and watching me surf from shore go, " Hey, look it over head out there !" Then they all suit up and paddle out to the peak and then realize their mistake.

[oldmansurfer]

I have from time to time the ability to make the surf look much better than it actually is. It's because I grew up surfing less than ideal conditions and sometimes get a break dialed in so that it looks like it is easy to surf. Guys paddle out and say "what the heck happened to the waves?" "Nothing you just need to pick the right wave and do the right thing." I guess at other times I don't pick the right waves and don't do the right thing and they stay out of the water LOL

[oldmansurfer]

Here is another ancillary skill, going through the whitewater to get out through the surf in a sandy area (beach break). First I look for the quickest way out without paddling inside of other surfers. And by out I mean to a point outside of the breaking waves.....not the closest point to where I want to surf. Then I walk out as far as I can turning sideways and holding my board above my head as needed so it doesn't get caught by the waves coming in and it's easier to go through whitewater standing sideways because you have less profile for the waves to hit. I learned to do this paipo boarding but adapted it for surfing. I wait for a break in the waves then paddle out from that spot which is much closer to outside of the breaking waves than the shoreline is. While I can go out through whitewater close to head high, it might take you a while to learn how to lean into the whitewater as it hits you.

[Geezer]

Breath holding……an important one. Practicing so that you’re confident in being able to hold your breath for much longer than you’d need on a average waves will aid in confidence and calm, the second attribute being 100% essential to ocean survival. I free dive (with the silly long fins and everything) and have developed confidence in that way….of course it’s different comparing time underwater at 20ft vs 60ft (1 vs 2 ATM) but the confidence developed can easily accommodate 10-15sec of whitewater tumble.

You can practice at your desk, after taking a flight of stairs….just stop breathing, sometimes taking a breath, sometimes not and check your watch ti see how long you can hold it. Won’t take long before you’re well past any length needed for your usual waves.

[Geezer]

Swimming, open water swimming is another one. Again, panic is a killer, calm will save you and the best way to be fully relaxed as far as I’m concerned when surfing an outer reef hundreds of meters from shore is to comfortably know that if the leash snaps and I’m out alone in the water, that while it might take some time, I’ll make it back to the beach on my own. Having that and breath holding in your pocket will give you the calm needed to be able to safely function in the ocean.

[oldmansurfer]

Yes totally agree. I would say the leash has been bad for that but way back when I used to surf a break where two brothers would share a board (one at a time) and neither could swim so they would stand on the reef and wait for someone to bring them the board. If you wanted to surf there you were expected to bring them their surfboard when you were near it. LOL so even before the leash there were surfers who probably shouldn't have been surfing because they couldn't swim well enough

[Geezer]

LOL…..I remember teaching my girls when they were little about the “secret” of the reef…..where we could swim well offshore then all of a sudden you could stand up and walk to knee deep water. Eased their minds knowing that even if shore seemed far away, they weren’t far from being able to take a break.

[oldmansurfer]

It is a survival skill to be knowledgeable about the ocean and bottom conditions where you surf . I have read about a few times where people were struggling to swim and exhausted afraid of drowning where someone had to tell them to quit swimming and stand up. I once came in from a surf session on a typical storm surf day and was drying off when some surfers parked in a car next to me mentioned there was a surfer who was apparently having trouble coming in. They said he was swimming maybe 5 minutes and not making any progress. There were apparently friends of his on the shoreline yelling encouraging comments to him. The surfers in the car said "You have to go save him". I answered back "What? You saw him first you save him." They replied "you're wet already". That was true so I grabbed my board and walked over to his location and right when I got there someone yelled for him to "Stand up" and he was able to and walked in without my help. It was a pretty rough day and I should have had a rescue float instead of a surfboard for assistance because it would be safer for both of us but he ended up not needing to be saved because someone told him to stand up.