Zoo Tales - Near be-heading in the impact zone.....

[Big H]

So I'm out today....smallish waves with some decent sized ones coming through every set and half set....there is a crowd of about 25-30, not too big but fair sized and I joined the pack.....caught a good one out back and tucked in for a scoot down the line.....there is an instructor (well, local beach boy) with a foamie that had been pushing a little tourist kid into waves on the inside.....I made the section and was coming into that area....Instructor, big foamie just inside of where the wave was going to break...if I went high I could get around....


....and then a head pops out of the water on my intended line.....


....that's where the kid went!....


....I don't know what he was doing but he wasn't leashed to the board and was swimming underwater until I was almost on him.....I kick the board away from him then choose my spot and arch my body over his so that I would finish my fall just beyond him....worked out well and I mentally congratulated myself on what I thought a pretty artful escape.....


...kid - freaked out
...instructor - angry I almost beheaded his charge
...me - soft and apologetic in English to the kid, tousle his hair and told him "that was close! You're ok aren't you big guy!" He smiles.
- not at all soft and apologetic to the instructor who I proceeded to scold in bahasa who of course wasn't going to put up with that and we both ended up walking away in disagreement.


Where the instructor chose was the ending bit of the wave off the peak out back that we were all sitting on....well down the line and inside past a section that most didn't make, but all the same on the same wave.....I get why he took up position there....waist deep water, sandy bottom and that bit of wave still had a good shape and a bit of push and was eminently surf able (as I demonstrated almost into the kid's forehead).....he left the water after I told him to use his head, open his eyes and move down the beach to a more appropriate area where the rest of the whitewater riders were practicing instead of sitting right underneath a big group of surfers....he growled some things but took the kid and exited the water straightaway. They walked down the beach and got in again in the middle of a foamie school sesh 75m down the beach.


....another day at the zoo....

[BaNZ]

This is literally my biggest fear when I resurface. I always thinks that someone is not going to see me when my head pop out the water.

[Jester]

I was watching Joel Tudor the other day and he described the great love and appreciation he has for the mentors that helped him when he was a grom. Every one of the great surfers he knew had a father figure that they looked up to and showed them the ropes. It passes on to the next generation the Stoke and spirit of what we all enjoy. He dedicated all his success to them.

I wasn't there but imagine how that kid could look up to you in the future if the next time you helped him out on his first green wave, gave him words of encouragement and shared a beer with his mentor, you could become legend in his eyes H, you might even become legend locally and make that spot known for a good kind of localism. Those stories live on in the memory and can pass down generations.

When I think of all the times I've got in the way while I'm learning!

[benjl]

I would kill for the zoo anyday, would sure beat the 200m paddle out and monster waves we've been having recently

[dtc]

This is literally my biggest fear when I resurface. I always thinks that someone is not going to see me when my head pop out the water.

Surface with your arms over your head (ie wrapped around your head). It may not stop a fin sliding between your arms but it offers some (but not total) protection.

Indeed, you can - if you are able, know which way is up, have enough oxygen, aren't surrounded by white water and so forth - open your eyes under water and look up and see what is going on before you surface.

[drowningbitbybit]

Surface with your arms over your head (ie wrapped around your head)

If I'm surfing in amongst the crowd, I always put an arm straight up above the surface and pause for a moment underwater - most of the guys in the line up have more than enough ability to go around if they know someone is there.

If I still know which way is up/down/left/right, I'll raise the arm that's likely to be in the firing line.

Kooky? Who cares - I've seen fins go around my arm which would have been my head

[Big H]

I would kill for the zoo anyday, would sure beat the 200m paddle out and monster waves we've been having recently

I love the zoo...off shore light breeze in the afternoon yesterday, shoulder to just overhead on sets....great conditions.

[Big H]

I was watching Joel Tudor the other day and he described the great love and appreciation he has for the mentors that helped him when he was a grom. Every one of the great surfers he knew had a father figure that they looked up to and showed them the ropes. It passes on to the next generation the Stoke and spirit of what we all enjoy. He dedicated all his success to them.

I wasn't there but imagine how that kid could look up to you in the future if the next time you helped him out on his first green wave, gave him words of encouragement and shared a beer with his mentor, you could become legend in his eyes H, you might even become legend locally and make that spot known for a good kind of localism. Those stories live on in the memory and can pass down generations.

When I think of all the times I've got in the way while I'm learning!

....that is to say that he stops swimming in the breaking waves down the line....if not me someone else will tattoo a board across his forehead sooner than later.

We look out for the kids though....there are two grommies that are seriously like 5 and 7years old that find their way to the water daily. Little one wiped out a nd three of us sat up like dobermans to make sure he came up again. I got snaked yesterday by another grommies board; he had no leash (looks of the board he can't afford one). I chased the board down for him to save him the swim and then told him to practice kicking out before close out. Big smiles and a shaka sealed the talk.

Good times!

[Tudeo]

It would've been a tragedy had u hurt the kid, luckily this time u (just) avoided the collision.

Who would have been responsible if the kid got hurt? U ever ask urself that question??

[Big H]

I went out today....super small and hardly worth it....going to be like this for awhile.....was able to catch on the sets but still not much to write home about....there was a group of middle aged bathers who decided to play in the waves in the exact spot the kid was in yesterday.....they had two near misses that I saw and then finally got run into by a three random surfers before angrily getting out of the water.....I get the whole I want to play in the waves thing, but common sense should override; it wasn't the surfers who took the worst of it and with these folks just underneath one of the only peaks working on the whole stretch, the 20+ frothing surfers weren't going to let any waves go through that's for sure......I could totally see it coming as well; a couple of near misses and the swimmers rather than getting out of the way set their jaws as well as their resolve and glared at the offenders....didn't end well....


When I lived in the Caribbean there was an expression that fits....."Bwoy........dem a get wut dey a look for...."

[Jester]

In most beaches over this side of the world they have flag systems to keep swimmers from surfers and vice versa, it's funny coz your think common sense would come into play but it rarely does.

Swimmers should stay out of an obviously packed area with sharp hard things aimed at them and surfers should cut out early if they look down the line and see an obstacle.

When I'm driving I tut at pedestrians being clueless and walking out in front of me yet curiously when I'm a pedestrian I can sometimes be surprised that traffic doesn't part for me like the red sea and get irked at motorists!! "Bloody fool, can't he see I want to cross..no manners these days" that kind of thing. Anyway it's the unfortunate human condition at present that we expect everyone else in the world to be empathetic to our situation and see the world as it relates to US! We of course miraculously get offended if they dare suggest in the interests of fairness it's our turn to be empathetic to them. "What?!.. How dare they, the Swines!"

We expect non surfers to know how it feels to be on a wave and have it ruined whereas they expect us not to run down grandma and grandpa and their own assortment of little darlings. In a perfect world someone should politely and gently inform them of the dangers aforehand. Communication is the key.

Not that it always works but at least you've given them the common courtesy of taking action on knowledge provided...before running them down like a dog that is.

Should we create straight lines in nature, should we rule and legislate? We love rules yet we all crave to be free, oh the irony of our watery misadventures.

The best advice a man can ever follow is this.. Do to others how you wish done to yourself.

Right that's my musings.. I'm off for a mince pie

[Big H]

I always go by the defacto bottom line....if I am a pedestrian per se, and I want to challenge a car, worst case scenario, who is the "winner"?

....and will the winner call the pedestrian's next of kin...

[oldmansurfer]

One thing I did when I was younger and learning to surf on small days I would surf switch stance. It was a challenge on those small days when I found the waves not much of a challenge. Of course now that would be more of a challenge than what I want because I am not putting in the number of hours you are. I can find stuff to work on (challenges) on small days still.

[oldmansurfer]

Oops wrong thread I meant to put that one in the in a rut thread

[Tudeo]

Should we create straight lines in nature, should we rule and legislate? We love rules yet we all crave to be free, oh the irony of our watery misadventures.

Love it!

[jaffa1949]

Don't anyone think of involving land bound officials in governing surfing. It would be your worst nightmare.
thoughts have already been mooted on skill certification, levels of surf licences.
Matching skill levels to surf spot level ie black diamond slopes in skiing double black diamond runs nursery slopes etc.
Paid government licence checkers and spot enforcers, then overlay mother nature, nursery slope can on another swell become a double black diamond surf.
Compulsory insurance registration stickers.
Happened in the 60s in Australia

Civil disobedience stopped it.
Attempts have been made to make flotation vests compulsory and there has been a recent suggestion that rather than cull or net sharks, specified shark deterrent devices be compulsory.

KEEP CITY HALL OUT OF SURFING!

A bad shark attack is really so much better at stopping/controlling crowds than any civil ordinance

[drowningbitbybit]

A bad shark attack is really so much better at stopping/controlling crowds than any civil ordinance

Yeah, but then all the surfers from northern NSW come to the Gold Coast!

[jaffa1949]

You are welcome to them!

[surf patrol]

Don't anyone think of involving land bound officials in governing surfing. It would be your worst nightmare.
thoughts have already been mooted on skill certification, levels of surf licences.

I saw this the other day and it gave me pause. I wonder if something like this will be the future of surfing lineups.