6-8ft

[benjl]

Add this to both the thread about personal milestones and also the thread about how to surf bigger waves.

I went out west yesterday after seeing a massive and rapidly building swell with offshore winds. I thought at worst it might be 6ft.
When I got there the beach report said 6-8ft and they were correct, they were some of the biggest waves I've ever seen at my local. I spent about 30mins just watching and trying to figure out whether any of them were remotely possible. The waves were so big that you would see a surfer go for a drop and then completely disappear for 2-3secs while they dropped below the height of the wave in front of it, before reappearing at the top of the wave to make a turn.

To make it worse i had only brought that new 5'10 hypto board which I had never tried before, let alone different fin set up etc.
I decided to just test my luck and thought hey, if I make it out I make it out and if not I'll just watch and go home.

Somehow I struck it lucky and managed to find the rip in a lull and within 15mins I was out back!! My god.. I've never seen anything like it. Some of the sets were so big you could watch them approach from miles out to see and up close it was like a 60m wide 3 storey house coming at you. I remember popping over the top of a few and wondering how the hell big wave surfers do it.
I've never seen the back of the wave have a rise about 2m high let alone the face height (some sets 3x OH maybe).
The back of the wave and subsequent white wash when it broke was so high that you couldn't see the beach from behind the wave. I've never seen anything like it.

I nearly caught 2 of them and started to make the drop before my balls kicked in and convinced me to pull out. I think if I'd had my normal short board that I'm comfortable with I might've given it a go.
So to cut a story short, I couldn't fathom what it's like to see anything bigger than 9ft up close and then try to ride it. Just the speed and steepness of the drop when it walls up is overwhelming.

[Big H]

Benji needs a gun...

That's awesome....keep pushing the envelope!

[drowningbitbybit]

Yup, it's scary out back when the ocean just seems to pick up the horizon and throws it at you...

[oldmansurfer]

John Florence would ride waves that size on a board that size as would Kelly Slater. I would use my usual 8 foot fungun. If you keep riding bigger and bigger waves you will reach a point that when you cut out from the wave after riding it for a distance you feel so alive. It's like you haven't ever been alive before. After a while then the same sized waves don't give you that feeling and you have to go bigger. I am sure that is why there are big wave surfers.

[dtc]

A guy I went to school with used to climb the 150 ft trees around the oval during lunch, ride behind fire trucks to avoid wind resistance, did waterski racing and eventually became a professional BASE jumper (which killed him). I once asked him if climbing the tree made him scared and he said 'no, it's just interesting'

I reckon he is the kind of guy who would have become a big wave surfer if he had lived on the coast. Just missing a brain connection...

[BaNZ]

The question is, how did you manage to get back to the beach? I've had that issue before where I went out when it was bigger than my comfort zone. Then I spend the next hour waiting for the smallest wave to get onshore again.

[oldmansurfer]

The vast majority of big wave surfers feel the danger of the big surf. They have endured wipeouts and have friends who died surfing big waves. Many prefer to not call it fear because they face it every time they go out but others will just call it fear. Big waves can kill you and if you don't act appropriately you won't be a big wave surfer for long (because you will die). If you pretend there is nothing to fear then your life will be shorter. Same goes for base jumping or climbing mountains or trees.

[dtc]

When you look at most (all?) big wave surfers, they are people who have grown up in the water, in the ocean every day from 2 or 3 years old. I imagine that they see the ocean very differently to everyone else.

There is no doubt that big wave surfers prepare very very well, have plans, need total trust in their support team (jet ski rider etc). And there is fear - but I think for some its more excitement than out and out being scared (eg watch Ross Clarke Jones in Storm Surfers). For others its just a challenge - Laird Hamilton (eg in Riding Giants) comes to mind. Whatever it is, a combination of a life time of experience and something else, I don't have

[oldmansurfer]

There are different reactions to fear for some they react by freezing up like a deer in the headlights but I am sure all of the big wave surfers react differently and similar to the way I typically react to fear and that is to perform at a higher level than they could without the fear because it causes the release of adrenaline or whatever else which makes it seem like time slows down and heightens your senses. Some of the big wave surfers are macho and don't want to say it's fear but it's all just different words to describe a similar experience. It's exciting to escape death otherwise there would be no thrill to riding big waves although Garrett McNamara would say there is no thrill to riding big waves except when you wipe out. Just different words to describe the same thing

[benjl]

I think I could safely say that if I had grown up next to the see and gotten in to surfing at a young age I would've been a big wave surfer for sure!
Everything I did, I did to the max and always tried to push it further.

Here's a pic of me from when I got in to biking. I had a fear of heights when I was a kid and doing a 30cm jump when I first started biking was scary. I kept pushing it and pushing it until I'd nearly completed every major structure at our bike park. I came
Up short on a big double-gap over a gulley on xmas-eve in 2011 and landed half a meter too short, the impact snapped my handlebars clean in half and left me with a concussion for xmas.
I also did bungy-jumping for the first time last weekend after a 10year plan to do it. Amazing!

Anyway, back on track- I eventually managed to make it back to shore relatively unscathed. I found a semi-lull and just paddled hard and straight to shore. Eventually I got the whitewash from one of the waves and rode it in.
Ironically enough it was probably the easiest paddle in and out that I've almost ever had!

[oldmansurfer]

Funny thing I never really thought of myself as a daredevil but I guess it I was. Used to jump over other bikes with my 3 speed Schwinn bike, Skateboard down steep hills, climb tall trees, climb (small) cliffs, bodysurf huge waves. I always thought I was a wimp and needed to pretend to be brave or others would call me out for being a wimp. At some point I realized it was me calling the others wimps. Oh well I survived being a macho thrill seeking adrenalin junkie. In my old age it's much easier to get a thrill.

[dtc]

Here's a pic of me from when I got in to biking

You look like that famous shot from ET

[benjl]

Here's a couple of others from the same day. I guess rolling in to one of these is a little like a big wave. Get the speed right, get the angle right and commit to it or face the consequences!!

At least if you crash you won't drown but you do get freak accidents where people impale themselves in particular ways on the bike that it stops their heart (Kelly McGary recently) or crushes internal organs etc.

[Big H]

So that's what country boys do....

[benjl]

And also this.. Bottom right. Mind you, preparing to get in the ring is also a bit like charging for a big wave

Country? I live in Auckland haha

[waikikikichan]

My co-worker did that at Saint Louis heights in Honolulu. Ran into a tree and knocked out. When he woke up on the ground, he saw the bottom of one of his shoes. His Femur had snapped and his lower leg was laying on his chest. Must have been an interesting sight.

[benjl]

Thai kick boxing class of 2014

[waikikikichan]

It's amazing the high level of sports you did and yet you yourself feel surfing has been one of the most difficult ( and frustrating ). It is always funny, when newbies think they can shortboard because they are good at other sports and " pick things up quickly ". ( or that they're pro level -snowboarders ).

I read that this one Ironman champion considered surfing big waves one of the hardest things he ever did.

[oldmansurfer]

I had a motorcycle and boy I used to love to jump things with that but a few close calls and I realized I needed to get rid of it before I seriously injured myself. Love that feeling of flying through the air. Surfing is safer you fall into water. I took Karate and did well in that but I injured a bunch of people and I didn't like injuring people especially my friends and teammates who I was sparing with. I think a lot of surfers I knew back in the day used to surf/martial arts/tennis. I guess you could say we were all cross training back then but it wasn't intentional just that people who were good at surfing were often good at martial arts and tennis.

[benjl]

Here's another couple of pics, one of me playing in a badminton Comp (terrible photo timing with my gumby looking left hand!) and also a pic of when I was in the paper for my coffee and baristing skills (I used to compete in that and also then got in to roasting and had my own roaster).
The paper was from a 'latte art' / coffee design comp where I came 6th in NZ although was told by a Judge that I won the heats on the prior day.

Despite that and everything else I've done, surfing is still hands down the most challenging and frustrating sport I've ever done (I also forgot to mention that I used to be a competitive swimmer and water polo player so being in the water comes naturally).

I jumped on my bike yesterday for the first time in 2 months and surpringly set one of the fastest times I've done down some of my local trails. I haven't even used those muscle groups in 2 months. I grantee that after 2 months off surfing there would be no way that you'd be shredding up with the best you ever have!