Surfing Waves

Been seeing a lot of surfing travel posting lately. Just remember what the Hawaii Lifeguards say " when in Doubt, don't go out ". In a way, better safe than sorry. But I realize, some beginners traveling surfers are so stoked to see good waves compared to their home break and push themselves to be in situations beyond their level. Well, this happened 2 days ago .

" A 33-year-old Canadian visitor, taken to the hospital in critical condition Thursday after being found face down off Kuhio Beach, near the Duke Kahanamoku statue, has died.

The Medical Examiner's Office identified the victim as Mark Gaborro, of Alberta, Canada.

Police classified the case as an unattended death, pending the outcome of an autopsy.

Emergency Medical Services said Gaborro had been surfing at Waikiki Beach Thursday when he was found 75 yards off shore around noon.

Gaborro's surfboard leash was detached from his ankle, EMS reported.

A high surf advisory was in effect on south shore beaches Thursday where 6- to 8-foot waves were expected."

Don't rely on your leash to save you. Be a strong swimmer, know the break. Surf with others. and know your limits.

Couldn't agree more, your leash is not a life saving device!!
Your skills , awareness and plain old common sense are ( unfortunately common sense is no longer common).

My home break is quite easy make it out the back up to overhead size! So many newbies come out and get smashed during school holidays and there are many near misses of being sucked out in the tidal rapids from the lake.
Until full summer the beach has no life guards local surfers rescue at least two per day and send others in.

Be capable of saving your own life in the water or knowing when to stay out.

Learning your own limitations is a tricky thing. When you make a mistake in your estimation of your own ability to handle the ocean conditions you may die. Thus if you aren't sure then don't go out. In this case he was by himself so who knows what happened? A sad thing but every time you go surfing there is a risk so don't make it more of a risk by getting into ocean conditions beyond your abilities. I think it is a good idea to look at the conditions and think "would I be able to swim in those conditions without a problem?" If the answer is "no" or "I'm not sure" then don't go out.

Long ago I started surfing Kalapaki and this was in the days before surf leashes. I wiped out and lost my board and when I went in there was a board there so I look around and there is a guy without a board waving at me , so a common courtesy was to bring a board back out to the lineup to the guy who lost it so I paddled with my one leg extended to the side and placed on the nose of the other board as I had learned to do but I got hit by a set and lost the board before I got to the guy. I figured oh well I tried so I just kept paddling out and the guy was all upset. He told me he couldn't swim and that I HAD to go back and get his board. There was a strong moment of cognitive dissonance. I thought these guys were playing a game on me because I was the newbie there. Turns out there were two brothers who both surfed there and neither could swim but they both surfed and relied on everyone else getting their surfboards. LOL well that was pretty bizarre back then but now with board leashes that may not seem so bizarre but still leashes break, boards break and you should never paddle some where that you can't get back in without the board.

Old Surfer Man, I can't believe that those guys were out in the water not knowing how swim. The thought seems absolutely ludicrous!

My parents didn't even let me touch a wave in the ocean by myself when i was a kid until they were confident that I could swim in the event I got swept out.

But going back to the original story, that's very sad to hear. Hopefully the story raises some awareness and people really know their abilities like you all said.

I know a few surfer friends that can't swim. They do however know how to stay afloat and keep their head above the water when they lose their board. They either doggie paddle to their board or pull on their leash. Which I think it is crazy as I struggle even when I know how to swim well.

People say you never swim against the rip when you get caught in it. But once I went out without my board and got swept out. However I was barely able to keep my head above water due to the incoming set of waves. I didn't even know where I'm at and kept getting bashed by the incoming waves.

I think it would help lots of surfers to put on some fins and swim out to the breaks they are going to surf and learn to swim around in the waves. If you have no board it is very easy to do. The board makes it more difficult but once you learn to deal with waves breaking on you then you will be a lot safer. Also if this is at a break that you are going to surf you can learn about the bottom and the currents present there at the same time and be better prepared for surfing. Learning to get out of a rip current is a useful skill too. I was such a good swimmer I could often just swim against the currents but for all the breaks I surfed at I knew what the bottom was like and how deep the waves broke and where the currents were usually and I know how to get out of a rip.

The current (no pun intended) advice for those caught in rips is 'swim for the white' ie where the waves are breaking, as there wont be a rip there.

Generally this is across/sideways; although some rips are 'upside down J shape' ie straight out from the beach then they hook around behind the breaking waves - these are the 'safest' rips, because you end up being taken to the white water by the rip; but for these rips you actually end up swimming back toward the beach rather than sideways.

But whatever the rip is doing - swim for the white. Not the beach.

The waves will help you back to shore, if you can body surf or just keep your head above water and let yourself be pummelled to shore.