Surfing Waves

When was the last time you went to surf and stayed on the beach rather than go out and for what reasons?

Today I went to a beachie in seminyak, usually a relatively mellowish break on the fat side with a sand bar about 150m out...no reef or rocks (rare for here)...a few different peaks, almost never crowded, great for developing and where I go now when it looks like a bigger day in that getting smashed isn't that big a deal....
I stayed on the beach today....2.6m swell, 19 sec period.... Report said 6-10 ft faces but there were clean up sets that were ragged and just plain rough looking that looked a tad bigger and a lot more disorganized than the rest...and the beach break on the inside swallowed up the usual channel and was a hollow bear...a fellow surfer surveying the scene next to me made a funny comment that stuck..."that's just terrible!" Hahaha...shame if it was it was walling up pretty nice....looked like it would be a good time if:
1. I had better skills
2. I didn't have to go have what would be a busy day at work
3. I didn't have a family that I could potentially leave without a head

I really take safety seriously...I'm not shy to call it off if I think that there is a chance my abilities are exceeded by my appetite....plus I surf alone and as this was daybreak there was only this other guy who was on vacation who attempted to cajole me out got flatly told after my book cover appraisal "that's too much....it's just not safe for me..I'd think twice if I were you. "
Charging is all well and good, and maybe my cautious approach is slowing my development. But then again, I'm still here....people do go missing here and big swells always seem to claim someone. I try to respect the ocean and leave a margin for error; if I made a mistake today the margins just weren't there per my abilities. Dislocate a shoulder on a wipeout and I'd be in a serious situation.

So anyway, it was a pretty easy choice today, made more marginal calls before...why did you choose not to go out and what were you faced with / reasons for calling it off?

Its funny how when you are learning the last thing you want around you is people, who you will run over, hit with your board, fall on top of and generally create havoc. But once you have a bit of skill, surfing without people around becomes a bit stressful.

I've certainly not gone out. Where I surf, beach breaks mainly, you can have really nice fat big waves from a large swell, but the amount of water that they are moving around in the bay is visible; if you get in the wrong rip you might end up anywhere. I'm lucky that I have a choice of 3 beaches within 5 minutes (of my holiday location), all of which face slightly different directions; so in big surf usually at least one of them is protected to some extent and I have no hesitation going to the protected beach if I need to.

Safety (and wave fitness) is the main issue - if there was someone out there with a jet ski to look after me then I would probably go a lot of the time. But even then, there will be surf that isn't worth the effort, surf that requires more skill than I have, surf that don't suit my boards (eg large hollow surf). If where the waves are breaking is too shallow. Surfing is for fun - when you are a grown up particularly (ie mature...). Its for challenging yourself, for sure; but its not for killing yourself.

I am perhaps in a different situation from every other surfer on the planet in regard to this type of issue. One is because I am on my second time around surfing. I used to surf long ago and I used to surf fairly huge surf long ago. Two I only go out at one beach. This is because I am a busy guy and have no time to go look and this beach usually has some surf. Consequently I am very familiar with this beach from surfing it long ago and even more familiar from surfing it now. Third is this beach has several different breaks so I may decide one break is too dangerous for me but another will usually be less dangerous. Fourth I love surfing and it's not just a passing attraction. There was one day when the water was really brown and full of dirt that I didn't go out. It was more to make my wife happy who was worried about me. My wife goes with me to the beach in half of my surf sessions. I always kid her that she is along to go call the rescue people to go find my dead body if I have a problem since I usually surf alone. Surfing requires that you learn skills, some of them are paddling and wave riding but a more important part of them is to be able to read the ocean and to know your limits. I guess if you can't look at the ocean and make an accurate decision like "This is completely out of my league" or "If I go out it seems likely I will get into trouble" or "The current is too strong, the waves are too big for me" then your career as a surfer will be short and tragic.

Seminyak on a 2.5 metre swell with a 19 second period is serious water , the rips that can be generated there under those circumstances are deadly.
Good call, you are not holding yourself back, but being aware of the nature of the sea. That whole southern stretch can morph from a quiet ( relatively ) rideable surf into something out of control in one set after another. I have had some of the scariest close calls along that stretch with epic sudden changes of the nature there.

Wisdom should rule over testosterone

I had the vice versa yesterday, I went out and totally regretted it? For a while
I got stuck in some hairy situations that prevented me from being able to get back to shore.

The forecast was good so I decided to bite the bullet and go out when I could (mid low tide- going out). The report said 2-4ft with 18sec swell.
There was ALOT of water movement, paddling out at some points would be well over head height and then all of a sudden you could touch the bottom. Trying to pick where to be for waves was a nightmare!

It's been as low as 4degrees here recent and the water was icy.. I was only in my 3/2 wetsuit and started shivering and losing the feeling in my feet within 45mins.
I was determined to get some waves but the swell started the get bigger and bigger while the tide got shallower.. Not a good combination.
The waves where I was were over getting over head heigh and basically
Just dumping on to shallow sand. For about 20mins, just set after set came in and belted the shore line. I tried to catch one in but due to the cold I coudlnt feel my feet and semi-slipped off the board. I got absolutely hammered by the wave as it washing-machined me in to the ocean floor. Enough force to partially rip up my deck grip and cause the board to drag and pull me under. I basically got the surface as another 2 waves rolled on top of me and repeated the above again.
By that point I was half way to shore but had been pushed in to the cross-current that was heading towards the rocks!

I managed to eventually paddle
Through the rip until I could touch the sand and walk back up out of the water. I stood there shivering, skin Coloured blue, exhausted and wishing I hadn't just wasted 3hrs of my day to only catch one wave and feel absolutely miserable.

Some sessions just got right but this was not one of them

Trial by fire and then water!
What doesn't kill you scares the Sh... Out of you and sometimes makes you stronger!

Benji, bet you'll never forget THAT lesson....glad you're still here....

jaffa1949 wrote:Trial by fire and then water!
What doesn't kill you scares the Sh... Out of you and sometimes makes you stronger!

Haha- yeah so much for my idea of having a surf to relax me after a few weeks off due to the fire situation and moving!

Dude! So sorry to hear about your house!! glad you're all safe though.

Benji, was there a fire on your house? Sorry to hear that! Hope things work out.

That didn't sound like a relaxing session at all! Glad you made it out safely.

I've never went to the beach without paddling out, but the biggest day I went out was probably the one I just wrote about on oldmansurfer's topic, around 4ft-5ft hawaiian. It was quite scary for a beginner like I was back than (even more than I still am! ). More details on OMS topic: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=24497&p=180107#p180107.

We all gotta "swallow our pride" sometimes and just know our limits. Nothing shameful about knowing when not to go out.

jaffa1949 wrote:Seminyak on a 2.5 metre swell with a 19 second period is serious water , the rips that can be generated there under those circumstances are deadly.
Good call, you are not holding yourself back, but being aware of the nature of the sea. That whole southern stretch can morph from a quiet ( relatively ) rideable surf into something out of control in one set after another. I have had some of the scariest close calls along that stretch with epic sudden changes of the nature there.

Wisdom should rule over testosterone

Yes it was pretty ugly....I hope that guy watching the waves with me took my advice and stayed out; he was on vacation, never surfed that break before, but really wanted to get wet because his flight was in 7 hours. He was not up for it; and with no lifeguard on duty and with the light rain, there weren't even the usual morning joggers and dog walkers on the beach....there was a mist hanging over the brutal shorebreak from the spray and as close as it gets to fog over the sea....one broken leash and solid rip would be see you later than sooner and no one would be the wiser....would be in that situation all alone.

As a divemaster and instructor I learned respect for the ocean; not only padding my limits which were secondary, but taking into account the weakest member of the group and making sure that the margins for them were acceptable....thing about the ocean is one good mistake and you're dead....hardly gets notice in the news....man drowns while surfing....hardly worth the read for most, title explains away the punchline....I always watch before going in, play very safe and do recon on my first few visits to a new spot checking non apparent currents, depths and general movements of the sea until I'm satisfied that I've got the place wired enough to recognize what the dangers are and what to do should they arise mid sesh. In the past year I've probably not paddled out at least 20 times and instead just watched the water; living here there is always another day.......surfers go missing and are dragged out of the water around here often enough that it stays top of mind....it just isn't worth it (and there is usually another break that will work nearby....makes backing out easier.... )

Discretion is the greater part of valor. If in doubt don't go out.

Actually now I think of it.. I didn't have an experience last weekend that wasn't much better.
The conditions were pretty sizeable and messy but I was out that way anyway and thought I may as well try and tie in surf while I was at it.

After about a 20min paddle of getting pounded by dumpy waves, I was finally starting to get somewhere near out back!
I went to duck dive a big set and in the process of doing so the wave ripped the board out of my hands.
When I got to the surface I had a strange feeling that something didn't feel right and like my leg felt really light...if any of you have had this happen before you will know what's coming next.

The leash had snapped and the board was about about 50m back towards the beach!
I swam myself ragged trying to catch up to it but just as fast as I was swimming, the waves were faster pushing it away.
Eventually I caught up with it as luckily it was mid tide or the board would've been smashing in to rocks!

Didn't even get a single wave before that happened so it was a pretty frustrating surf day!