Surfing Waves

I'm not ready for it mentally. Saying that, I'll be wearing gloves, shoes and 4mm wetsuit so hopefully if I hit the bottom, it will just be bruises and not cuts. Should I even attempt it? I'm not sure how shallow it is, but I guess I'll find out. I have also bought travel insurance just in case...

Have surfed rockbed before and stepped on urchin, but never a reef.... and I've seen how bad the cuts can get when you step on it lightly...

I think the danger of reefs depends on the break and the tide. Some reef breaks are shallow and others are deeper. One thing I reccomend is to learn to fall flat so don't dive off your board head first or jump but do a belly flop or what I like to do is kick my board forward and land on my back. If you find yourself going head first then be prepared to tuck and roll and if you find yourself going feet first then plan on going to your hands and knees or try to angle your legs so that you turn flat when you hit the water. I guess I never worried about the first time I surfed on reef because prior to that I had body surfed and paipo boarded reefs. There is a reef break that I surf reguarly and I have surfed it all of my life and during that time I only touched the reef twice both times to push off to bottom to get back to the surface. Lots of people surf reefs without a problem but it's a good idea to pick a deeper one to start off with (not Teahupoo). Try to not step on the reef. Booties should be great if you have to step on it.

This is the place that I'll be surfing. Looks like the wave doesn't break too fast.

Last time I was there, I attempted to get to the spot but because the current was so strong,I can't even get close. Plus I'm a regular stance so it isn't too good for me. This time I have 3 weeks to conquer it. Plus I'll be surfing with a local in that video so I'm hoping that I'll have the fitness to make it to that break.

I guess I better try it when it is smaller and maybe take a look at it when it is low tide.

Doesn't look too bad in the video. I don't like reef breaks where I can see the reef while I am surfing so those breaks I don't go out at very often (sometimes they are really good waves). Way back in the days before surf leashes I surfed a reef break called Pakala and it was a deeper reef break but if you lost your board it went in over shallow reef. Some fo the guys would tie a couple slippers on their surfshorts just incase they lost their board and had to walk on the reef. At the time my feet were calloused enough to just walk on the reef. I was lucky and never stepped on anything bad when I had to walk there but we would flip our boards over so the fins were up and paddle over the reef till we get to deeper water then flip the board back over.

oldmansurfer wrote: Some fo the guys would tie a couple slippers on their surfshorts just incase they lost their board and had to walk on the reef. At the time my feet were calloused enough to just walk on the reef. I was lucky and never stepped on anything bad when I had to walk there but we would flip our boards over so the fins were up and paddle over the reef till we get to deeper water then flip the board back over.

That is insane! I've never heard of anything like that. If I see anyone with slippers tied to their shorts, I would think they are kooks.

I think Gerry Lopez was the first guy to do that probably at Pakala because he grew up surfing that break and then he took that to Indonesia also. He would wear the slippers to walk out on the reef then jump off and let the waves take the slippers back in. But with board cords that is rarely needed so feel lucky you live in an age of board leashes (Unless you are at those breaks that Gerry went to in Indonesia)

Surfing on a reef you know is no big deal - more predictable than a beachie and less prone to catching you out - but surfing over a reef you don't is terrifying!

So if conditions allow, paddle around the reef when its flat (or too full to break), and get to know where the reef starts and where the rocks are etc. You'll have much more confidence on a reef if you know where everything is.

you got no worries if you can bottom turn and get to the shoulder. Can't see anyone going straight in the video, but I am sure it's not fun. I really miss the reef break at Waikiki. Japan is mostly beach break.

By the way, regarding "boils", check out the video at 0:18 and 1:11. Can see the reef burping up lots of boils.

drowningbitbybit wrote:Surfing on a reef you know is no big deal - more predictable than a beachie and less prone to catching you out - but surfing over a reef you don't is terrifying!

So if conditions allow, paddle around the reef when its flat (or too full to break), and get to know where the reef starts and where the rocks are etc. You'll have much more confidence on a reef if you know where everything is.

I surfed a place where there is rockbed before. Love'd it cos I can see where to sit and just wait for the waves. I was hoping reef are like that too.
I think it's a mentality thing, I just need to conquer the fear of unknown and as you said. Get to know the area first.

waikikikichan wrote:you got no worries if you can bottom turn and get to the shoulder. Can't see anyone going straight in the video, but I am sure it's not fun. I really miss the reef break at Waikiki. Japan is mostly beach break.

By the way, regarding "boils", check out the video at 0:18 and 1:11. Can see the reef burping up lots of boils.

Wow, I didn't notice that at all. Does it mean that part is the shallowest?

Hmm looks like what I heard from friends are not true, they told me that Japan surfers are really good as they have a lot of reef breaks over there. My friend is considering moving to Okinawa to work and pickup surfing agian.

I noticed the boils too. I will just say a little bit about boils. They may represent where the water is shallower or just a change in the contour of the bottom. You can paddle over them but you don't want to surf through them if you can avoid it. They will alter the speed of your board and may make you fall. That said I have probably surfed over more boils without falling than falling but mostly I try to not do that. Boils are really great for lining up breaks. They are fixed spots in the reef and are the most accurate points of reference for lining up breaks that you can have if there is one near the lineup. So you figure out where the you want to be for a takeoff in relationship to the boil just not so that you will drop down right into it.

oldmansurfer wrote:I think Gerry Lopez was the first guy to do that probably at Pakala because he grew up surfing that break and then he took that to Indonesia also. He would wear the slippers to walk out on the reef then jump off and let the waves take the slippers back in. But with board cords that is rarely needed so feel lucky you live in an age of board leashes (Unless you are at those breaks that Gerry went to in Indonesia)

Way way back in the dark ages, prior even to Gerry, and sometime before wax.
Surfers used to wear Dunlop volley sandshoes to walk out on a reef near Cronulla in Sydney.
They provided protection against all the sea urchins and also provided grip.
The place which has quite a good wave became known as "Sandshoes".
Volley sandshoes went on to become the favourite shoes of roof worker because superior grip

jaffa1949 wrote:The place which has quite a good wave became known as "Sandshoes".

ooh, I used to surf sandshoes quite often!
A good spot when the rest of the Cronulla beachies and points are maxed out or wind affected.

Okinawa is all reef break ( more like barrier reef ) way out, beach area is calm. For Tokyo people its mainly Shonan and Chiba which are mostly beach break.

Reefs are only rocky bottoms, it is how they are arranged that focuses and shapes the wave.
Not all reef waves are death slabs, some are very easily rideable and quite predictable.
Boils are turbulence caused by uneven contours on the bottom and can be used as markers for take off etc.
Most famous surf spots have particular rocks or ledges that are often named by the local surfers.
The Chair, Surge, lumpy, smashas, the ledge, the suck, you get the idea!

The level you are at BaNZ you will need to be much more aware in your positioning and crowd focus as the take off point will be where there is more traffic and pointed priority.
Lagide is quite a benign wave at that size and is a reef and sand combination, very similar in quality to my home break.
What is going to be of more importance is your ability among a group of more able surfers.
let us know how you go

jaffa1949 wrote:Way way back in the dark ages, prior even to Gerry, and sometime before wax.
Surfers used to wear Dunlop volley sandshoes to walk out on a reef near Cronulla in Sydney.
They provided protection against all the sea urchins and also provided grip.
The place which has quite a good wave became known as "Sandshoes".
Volley sandshoes went on to become the favourite shoes of roof worker because superior grip

That is interesting. So was that with wood boards?

I perfectly understand the fear of reef breaks, being someone who almost entirely surfs on a beach. But I try and convince myself this way - how often do I hit the sand? Very very rarely and even then not very hard and usually when I'm surfing shore breaks because its the only thing around and I know there is a bit of a risk. So if you have foot protection, it may not make much difference-fall flat and you wont hit anything. Obviously you need to ensure you know where the shallow bits are and avoid them

Read up on surfing backside - the best tip is to turn your back foot so its more parallel to the stringer (toes pointing forward) and open up your body (shoulders more across the board rather than the front shoulder pointing forward). It does change the 'method' of turning a little bit (more toes than heels for the back foot) but it makes things much easier. You probably know all this anyway!

Here is a a reef, a nice benign one until it gets bigger.


here is a picture of Uncle Jaffa surfing the reef, I recognise my fin set up


The view from above

oldmansurfer wrote:

jaffa1949 wrote:Way way back in the dark ages, prior even to Gerry, and sometime before wax.
Surfers used to wear Dunlop volley sandshoes to walk out on a reef near Cronulla in Sydney.
They provided protection against all the sea urchins and also provided grip.
The place which has quite a good wave became known as "Sandshoes".
Volley sandshoes went on to become the favourite shoes of roof worker because superior grip

That is interesting. So was that with wood boards?

Sort of very early sixties , Balsa boards became known to Australian surfers in 1956 when Californian life guards bought out the malibu chips as they were known then and proceeded to show surfing with turns and other hotdogging style , Greg Noll was one of the surfers.
Aussies who up until then had been riding 16ft hollow paddle boards without fins ( toothpicks they were called) fell off their seats. I started in 1958 @ 9 years of age
Foam came in the sixties but balsa persisted for a while. so sometime early 60s

Thinking about it, I've surfed reef before. Not sure if you would count it as reef but there are coral reef in boulder size scattered. However that day the wave was like 2-3 feet. Was really scary at first because I could only see where the boulders were when the sun was shinning through the water and a bunch of big fish was following me under my board.

This is the place I surfed with boulders sized reef before but as I said, it was small.


And as Jaffa says, I really need to watch out for priorities! I like Portuguese people and the seem to be very upfront!

only reef i ever surfed was in tenerife, and after falling onto it, i had blood dripping out of me for the next 2-3 hours... was pretty sore:-)