What does it sound like inside a barrel

[billie_morini]

Bo,
these are AWESOME photos! And yes, I knew instantly it is Mendocino! This instant recognition is a testament to your photography prowess!

[oldmansurfer]

There is another sound I hear at times. It's the SSSS sound that your surfboard makes as you plane across water.

I generally don't hear my board making noises unless the water is very smooth and I am going very fast. I think pretty much I am focused on other stuff so much there is no room for it in the two or three brain cells that have survived to this old age

[waikikikichan]

I guess trying to explain what it sounds like inside a barrel to some one who's never been in one, is like like trying to explain how a orange taste like to someone who's never ate one.

[billie_morini]

I guess trying to explain what it sounds like inside a barrel to some one who's never been in one, is like like trying to explain how a orange taste like to someone who's never ate one.

Waiki, you made me think about the story about the blind men and the elephant!
(Warning: billie is careening off-topic again!)

THE BLIND MEN AND THE ELEPHANT
A picture of 6 blind men feeling an elephant for the first time and what they are imagining in their minds.
John Godfrey Saxe's ( 1816-1887) version of the famous Indian legend,

It was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.

The First approach'd the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
"God bless me! but the Elephant
Is very like a wall!"

The Second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried, -"Ho! what have we here
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me 'tis mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a spear!"

The Third approached the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a snake!"

The Fourth reached out his eager hand,
And felt about the knee.
"What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain," quoth he,
"'Tis clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a tree!"

The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: "E'en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a fan!"

The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Then, seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a rope!"

And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!

MORAL.
So oft in theologic wars,
The disputants, I ween,
Rail on in utter ignorance
Of what each other mean,
And prate about an Elephant
Not one of them has seen!

[Waveor]

Kinda sorta, Waveor. It's more than that. Every wave is different. I've been chased by ice cold, thunder cracking, TNT-packed waves in Santa Cruz; ridden smooth, fat, green, silent swells in San O; ridden small, whisper-quiet, peeling waves in turquoise bays in Mendocino County; and slapping, black, washing machine waves in Marin County. Waves are different even at the same break at different times of day, tide heights, moonlight, sunlight, shifting sand bars, etc.

I would even say that every wave is different.
Usually there are multiple swells at the same time.
Through interference the waves are constantly changing in the breaking zone and erverywhere else.
When there are two major swells that are about the same size for instance, it gets funny and you have to wait for right interference moment.
I know, that moon and sun are responsible for the tides and thus for the waterdepth at a given spot and much more.
One the other hand I don't think that the sunlight and moonlight have an inflluence on the waves themselves directly, but definitely on their appearence.

[Waveor]

I rode some waves once that when the lip hit the water it sounded like a tree trunk getting snapped in two......just a scary extremely loud and horrific noise but once in the tube it was like no sound just an intense desire to not die and an overwhelming urge to come back out of the tube

That sounds interesting. Can you describe the effect further, was it similar to thunder?
Did the wave have a really fat lip?

[Waveor]

There is another sound I hear at times. It's the SSSS sound that your surfboard makes as you plane across water.

We want to do that sound too, maybe we just gonna record it, because it more difficult to simulate.
I hear it often, esepecially when others do a cutback very close.
I think thats primary the water drops that fall back to the water, after they were thrown in the air by the board.
But also the board throwing them to the side/in the air produces the sound.

[oldmansurfer]

The sound was exactly like what I would think a large tree trunk getting snapped in two would sound like. (my thought was a mango tree common where i lived). The waves were about 8 foot Hawaiian (16 foot face) and the lip was very thick (maybe 3 feet on the edge). The sound was enough to terrify me as I took off but once I am dropping down the wave the sound no longer mattered as I became focused entirely on the physical aspects of the wave. In situations like that I tend to go into a kind of slow motion state where everything seems to happen in slow motion On the first few waves I caught I jammed such a hard bottom turn that I got well in front of the wave and had to do these huge cutbacks which slowed me down enough that at least for the first wave I unintentionally got tubed and after that I knew it was likely to occur. But perhaps the sound of the wave lessened by then too as the lip got thinner further down the line. It was a long wave that broke from way outside. The furthest outside break was like a huge pipeline tube (maybe 12 to 15 foot Hawaiian) but breaking right and spitting then it went into a super fast freight train right (around 10 foot Hawaiian) then it slowed down to the third part which is where i chose to take off which was a slowly tubing very hollow wave from there it went to a smaller freight train right (4 to 6 foot Hawaiian) then to a slower 3 to 4 foot tubing section on the inside. I was riding from the third part to the inside and back out. I wanted to go out to the outside part but the risk was too great in my estimation. That part broke along a rocky shoreline and if I got caught by a set I undoubtedly would have ended up on the rocks. The third part where i was was breaking along the same rocky shore but only for a little way then it became a sand beach so I figured I could make it to the sand if I got caught which I never did.