Look Before you Leap (or paddle out!!)

[sinistapenguin]

Here we have a well learned lesson...

... ALWAYS take time to watch where other people are paddling out when at a new break.

I was in Biarritz, Grand Plage last week and foolishly tried to paddle out in the middle of the bay!

In my eagerness to get in the water (6-8ft and clean) I hired a board that was too small (mistake no.1) got suited up and headed straight in without stretching first (mistake no.2).

The lineup in Biarritz looks pretty close to the shore so I didn't think it would be too hard. (mistake no.3).

I dived onto the board looking all cool, powered up to the first wave, ducked it beautifully (if I say so myself). I came up the other side feeling pretty chuffed and confident, ducked the next wave, and the next....

1 wave, 2 waves, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. By this point I was getting slightly knackered and peeved. The 9th or 10th wave broke in front of me and I didn't make the duck in time. I dived under it and pulled the board through behind me. As I did, I felt my feet touch the bottom.

I had gone precisely nowhere!!


So I'd been paddling for 10 mins and moved forward about 6 fleshin' inches!

I got out and sat for about 20 mins watching everyone else. Noticed that they were all paddling in at the left side of the bay and tried my luck there. Paddled out, ducked 2 waves and was out back. Coolness!

I subsequently paddled in to a large wave, bottled it only to be caught inside by the next set, get held down for ages by 2 consecutive waves, swallow a ton of seawater and give up.

Ahh well. Better luck next time!!

Sinista

[scuba steve]

Yeah It's a cool beach but I did the exact same thing, except at that stage my duck diving was applaing so I got a serious beating in about 8 foot waves and struggled to even get out safely.
The trick, as you said definately is to paddle in through the rocks on the left side of the beach. It's a suprsingly heavy wave.

[tomcat360]

I did that once as well, tiny board, big waves, paddle straight out.......I never made it out back, it was the worst day of surfing in my life.

First day after winter with a suit not keeping me warm enough either.

[Milo]

That made me laugh so much, sorry bro . Done much the same thing myself

[Real Pol]

Ha ha!!

There's nothing worse than knackering yourself and then find out you're in shallower water than when you jumped on your board!!

Sorry for laughing, but it'll happen to most of us again!

[surferdude_scarborough]

had a similar experience at ilbaritz just down the coast. similar size waves but there wasnt anwhere nice n easy to paddle out so i just gave up. t going over the falls at anglet isnt a pleasant experience either.

[eastcoastsurfshop]

Look for the channels. Paddling straight out in a head high French beachy is always a bit sketchy! Waves like Hoss & Lacanau nearly always have a channel & rip either end of the bar, this is your entry spot. Always worth sitting & wtaching for a while, counting the sets & taking a look at where everyone else gets in (& out for that matter, nothing worse than trying topaddle against the backwash, turning round to see it sucking up behind you!)

[Johno]

Av done the same in north walse me and a surfer next to me were trying to padle out in 6 to 8 feet surf on are miny mals, after about 30 mins we had padled like hell and got no were we lafed at each other and agreed are boards were to big with shot sholders i returned to the beach naked,

I learnt 2 things

How to turtl roll and to padle out were the locals do

A lot can be learnt by just sitting on the beach and watching

[scuba steve]

i returned to the beach naked,

[Bewilderbeast]

nothing worse than trying topaddle against the backwash, turning round to see it sucking up behind you!

You got that right!!

After taking a good thrashing at Hoss it took me a good 20 minutes to fight my way out of the water against the backwash!

Not much fun at all and after being scrubbed along the bottom a couple of dozen times, I ended up with sand everywhere...and I mean EVERYWHERE!!

[eastcoastsurfshop]

In my younger days I used to be able to duck dive a 7'8" Mini Mal and I was only 5ft something & 10stone (bit more now...). The trick is to scoot up to the front and get the nose under, and gt your foot pushing hard on the deck. It isn't as gracefull as duck diving a shortboard but it gets you out back.

A longboard (maybe not so much the logs) can be duck dived to an extent, as the wave is walling, tip the board on it's rail & go under sideways, shift it over when your under and you will pop up the other side. You lose less ground than a turtle roll. It's handy in bigger surf, but be warned, if you get it wrong you will have the smashing of all smashings...

[IDynamite]

was the title to this thread a Suicide Machine's reference?

[sinistapenguin]

I have reclaimed some dignity after getting out and having some awesome rides in Woolacombe this weekend.

Sat was blown out, but Sun backed off and came up quite clean.

Back to being stoked now!!

[pat42]

Sounds like we've all had this happen to us!!

When I was in Brasil, I entered the water in what I thought was a channel, paddled for 10 minutes thinking I was moving forward.............I was going backwards and was about 6 feet from the shore being watched by bikini clad babes and feeling like a right twat

I moved 20 foot down the beach and was in the lineup in 20 seconds....... How does that work:?