Surfing Waves

I am a kook...only been surfing for ~8 months now. I have a 8'6" mini-longboard and usually surf at Old Man's Tourmaline in Pacific Beach, CA. Tourmaline has what I call "rolling waves"...very gentle and you can paddle out pretty far and get over incoming waves without turtle rolling (you still turtle roll if the wave is HUGE though). And catching waves is harder as you need to paddle a lot faster as the wave face isn't steep...but once you catch a wave...it goes for a long way. A lot of older men surf here with longboards.

So, today I tried to surf at Del Mar beach (about 20 mins north of Pacific Beach)...the waves there are steeper and there are more shortboarders. I surfed here before...and was able to get out to the line up fine...it was HARDER than most beaches...but could get out there. Today I completely could not get out to the lineup...it was mushy all over...I had to do like 10 turtle rolls...then I tried to do a semi-duck dive...the kind where you push up off the board and let the mushy wave pass between you and the board. I almost reached the line up before a big wave just knocked me underwater for a couple seconds too long...I almost panicked...but swam for the light...and was fine, but at that point I turned around and let the waves take me back to the beach. Then 15 minutes later I noticed that there was nobody else in the line up except for 1-2 people and everyone was giving up and getting out of the water.....I tried to walk back in a few more times, but kept getting knocked back...and paddling was hard. It seemed as if I was in a mixture of 2 waves from the Northwest and the Southwest....as well as an apparent rip tide underneath that was pulling my board sideways. The tide was going out as well...and it was even hard to walk thru the waves up to my waist...waves would hit me back as I jumped over...then I'd feel myself getting dragged back to the beach..and fight it...then finally start paddling when waist deep...and keep getting pounded and pounded....just got tired.

I basically gave up...and just rode in some white waves then went home.

So, I assume it is possible to have a bad day where the ocean isn't letting you get out with your longboard? Should I be surfing a shortboard on those days?

Not sure if it was just me being too tired or out of shape...or if it was the ocean...I mean 10 turtle rolls and I ain't even 25 feet from the shore.

Thoughts???

Additionally, I watched the waves for a while before going back in each time...I'd wait for a set to pass thru...then try to paddle hard...no go. Generally a confusing day for me.....prior to that I had started to pick up my surfing skillz....was able to surf the face of few waves for long runs...(used to go straight to the beach)....dunno man...

I guess that since others were out that getting out is not impossible. What I do is watch the break and look for spots where it is easier to paddle out. Sometimes it means paddling out for 10 yards then going sideways then out another 10 yards then to the other side, then wait for a set and paddle like crazy after the set. Plan it out before you go out. You should be able to see that you will get pounded if you paddle out in a specific spot. Also learn the timing of the sets so if there are three wave sets then a break for 30 seconds that means you will have about 30 seconds to get past where the break is in that area. You might spend a little while watching the other surfers to see what they do if you aren't familiar with that break.

Where I currently surf I sometimes go 50 yards down the beach from where I want to surf just because I can easily paddle out there

If you turtle roll and get right under (sink your body as far down as you can go - your body is the 'sea anchor'), you should only be dragged back a few metres if that by a wave; then the key is to get on to the board ASAP and paddle hard before the next wave. So instead of taking time to get on board, paddling 5m and getting knocked back 5m, you hop on quickly, paddle 10m and get knocked back 2m. Eventually you get there....

But - if the wave period (time between waves) is short it can be almost impossible, because there is no time to paddle. Unless (as old man says) there is another way in, through a chanel or something. Every beach will have a channel/gutter/rip, but it can sometimes be quite a distance from where you want to surf.

And its tiring.

Somedays its just hard.

It's often much more tiring to battle it out with the waves then to go around them. In big surf you always go around them if you can and if not you may just choose to not go out. Smaller waves you can choose to take on the waves or not. On small days where I surf I can usually paddle out quickly between the peaks but on bigger days while I might be able to take the pounding but I will be much more tired and it will take longer than walking 30 yards down the beach and paddling out there where there is only shore break in water that I can stand in so I walk my board out to the shore break and when it lets up I quickly paddle out then back over. On big days it is nearly impossible to paddle out anywhere except the far side of the beach which is 50 yards away from the break......well impossible for me anyway. Paddling 50 yards is not a problem but paddling 30 yards through the waves can be a problem. Being in good shape is a benefit. I am in so much better shape now maybe I could paddle out on some larger days but I choose not to just because I don't want to be tired when I get out. When you paddle reach forward as far as possible. Some surfers when they are in a hurry shorten their stroke but it slows them down more. It will all come with practice.

Thanks for the replies Oldman & dtc.

I don't know what it was on that day....but yep...it looks like a situation where I should have walked 50 yards to another part of the peach to paddle in. I think the reason I got trapped in the white wash was because I saw the line up...and figured people paddled to the shoulder of the line up...but when I was paddling out..nobody else was padding out with me. Then when I gave up and just let the ocean take me back to the beach...I saw that others in the line up came in as well and did not go back out again.

I really need to READ waves better.....it's hard man....