Surfing Waves

My daily dilemma when surfing is I want to get barreled but the only area on the beach where there is barrels the water is like 2ft deep and waves are head high to overhead, I'm afraid to risk snapping my board in half but really want to get barreled, the fish is like twice as thick as a traditional shortboard so I don't think it will snap that easily, am I over thinking this or is my board at risk, if I snap it, I won't buy one for a long time.

I have never broken a board in two, however I never buy off the rack boards and all of mine have more glass than an off the rack board because I ask for a third layer of glass on top of the board over the back half to third of the board because my back foot make a huge dent in the boards in that area. I am also quite good at wiping out and don't surf shallow reefs much.

icetime wrote: am I over thinking this or is my board at risk, if I snap it, I won't buy one for a long time.

To snap a board in two pieces is rare. Have you thought that you could also rip the fin boxes out, smash the nose or tail in, buckle the deck ? Those will render the board just as useless.

waikikikichan wrote:

icetime wrote: am I over thinking this or is my board at risk, if I snap it, I won't buy one for a long time.

To snap a board in two pieces is rare. Have you thought that you could also rip the fin boxes out, smash the nose or tail in, buckle the deck ? Those will render the board just as useless.

Those sound cheaper to fix than a split board, also when I bought the board the surfshop said the surfboard had 3 coats of resin of epoxy and something else can't remember so it's tougher than a normal board.

oldmansurfer wrote:I have never broken a board in two, however I never buy off the rack boards and all of mine have more glass than an off the rack board because I ask for a third layer of glass on top of the board over the back half to third of the board because my back foot make a huge dent in the boards in that area. I am also quite good at wiping out and don't surf shallow reefs much.

It's not a reef, we don't have those but actually a close to shore sandbar with a big hole behind it, I swam down and took a look, water is insanely murky so I could barely tell but there was lots of sea weed growing there.

icetime wrote: the surfshop said the surfboard had 3 coats of resin of epoxy and something else can't remember so it's tougher than a normal board.

Mother Nature and the Wave, do not give a damn about those claims made by surf shop employees, board manufacturers or advertisements.
"10% stronger, 3x as tough, carbon-kevlar wizz bang construction, power rods, heavy glassed, space age polymers". But always the wave snaps all of those. When you plant that nose in the sand/reef/kelp and the wave's power grabs the tail and rolls over the top, that fulcrum point is going to snap the board ( or buckle the nose/tail ) no matter what the board is made of. ( okay, will not if it's made of Adamantium )

What is compared to a "normal" board ? You can use the exact same materials, but a bad glass job can end up having a weaker board. Molded epoxy boards ARE stronger than "normal" PU/Poly boards, but Pop Outs are look down on as inferior.

My advice is to get a sponge/ black ball beater board and just pull in. You have a ton of fun and not worry about your board ...... as much

Barreling waves generally break in shallower water (relative to the size of the wave). Your not going to get around that. Just surf. Boards break. It's no big deal. Risk vs. reward and all that.

I worry a lot less about breaking boards and more about breaking my neck once it gets big with a lot of suck. Usually this is because it's a lurching late take off where if you don't get down the face and under the lip your going to get pile driven into the bottom.

Forgot to point out it's a closeout wave so if I am anywhere close to late in my takeoff I won't be able to doggy door out and eat sand

waikikikichan wrote:When you plant that nose in the sand/reef/kelp and the wave's power grabs the tail and rolls over the top

Jup, sand it was for me.. After a good surf going overconfident for an impossible takeoff near the shorebreak. (when I went in, I even had made a mental note to be carefull with the vicious shorebreak) The wave looked very doable at first but jacked up at the last moment, just when I was getting to my feet. My board went straight down and the nose hit the sand, creasing it.

I still can remember my mixed feelings walking the beach, there was the stoke of a great surfsession, the horror of seeing my expensive Firewire board creased and the feeling of being so stupid of ignoring my previous decision to stay away of that shorebreak..

dtc wrote:https://www.instagram.com/p/BFiEWC1qFy2/?hl=en

https://www.instagram.com/p/BC1mPChKFyD/?hl=en

https://www.instagram.com/p/9EdhmLqF44/?hl=en

Lots of ouches. Hope the third guy didn't suffered more injuries than the second.

Finbox repair isn't that cheap and I doubt split-in-half-boards would ever ride the same after the repair. And unless you have a decent quiver you wouldn't have a good board to ride while the board is in the shop. Worse still, if you get hurt severe enough you'd be forced to stop surfing until you recover.

icetime wrote:Forgot to point out it's a closeout wave so if I am anywhere close to late in my takeoff I won't be able to doggy door out and eat sand

Haven't you only been surfing for two months or so? In which case, you'll be mostly eating sand anyway.

icetime wrote:My daily dilemma when surfing is I want to get barreled but the only area on the beach where there is barrels the water is like 2ft deep and waves are head high to overhead, I'm afraid to risk snapping my board in half.

Geez...as an old guy, I'd be more worried about snapping myself in half. Can you look for a safer wave?

icetime wrote:Forgot to point out it's a closeout wave so if I am anywhere close to late in my takeoff I won't be able to doggy door out and eat sand

The risk of injury or damage to board is much greater trying to doggy door a wave as compared to wiping out inside of a barrel. I suggest you start off with smaller waves and work up to the dangerous stuff

oldmansurfer wrote:

icetime wrote:Forgot to point out it's a closeout wave so if I am anywhere close to late in my takeoff I won't be able to doggy door out and eat sand

The risk of injury or damage to board is much greater trying to doggy door a wave as compared to wiping out inside of a barrel. I suggest you start off with smaller waves and work up to the dangerous stuff

No such thing as small where I live, everything is head high and on absolute small days it's shoulder high, for the closeout wave, I'll let it pass and not try my luck with it, I'll save my wish of being barreledl for a spot with actual barrels that are safe.
Catching waves at the break I'm at is really difficult, wave isn't steep enough to catch and the only place you can catch it is really steep so I wipeout during the take off on half the waves I go for but the other half pays off for all the failure I'll get a hang of it with time.

icetime wrote:No such thing as small where I live, everything is head high and on absolute small days it's shoulder high

Don't be silly.

drowningbitbybit wrote:

icetime wrote:No such thing as small where I live, everything is head high and on absolute small days it's shoulder high

Don't be silly.

Well there is a beach that far away with a bit smaller waves but it's not worth the gas to get there

Even Bali, Hawaii and the Goldie go flat sometimes...........consider your audience.

waikikikichan wrote:
My advice is to get a sponge/ black ball beater board and just pull in. You have a ton of fun and not worry about your board ...... as much

Assuming he can get the beater there. They ride a lot different from longer boards, even with fins they need a lot of work to hold their line, and require a front footed approach or they stall right away. But worst comes to worst, he can use it as a bodyboard and get barreled that way

I'm going to take the advice of everyone of the forum and start surfing at a safer and smaller break, it's really chaotic here, if my leash were to snap when conditions were bad I would have a risk of drowning, it's reckless and I realized it when I went surfing today it was 6ft, no one was out, waves were blown out, I surfed reform because the lineup was basically closing out
ps: my leash didn't break for me to come to my decision