Surfing Waves

So I'm out today....I'm working a peak that is in a rip so it is WORK, but that was part of the deal since it was a small day and I wanted to get some paddles in/exercise....plus that rip was standing that part of the wave up nice.....a noob on a rental foamie spots me after getting my first two waves and paddles 100+m over to my position......he stops short of me, sits on his board and gives me a look, then slowly lays down and does a clumsy slow wobbly back paddle and comes around my back to take position....he paddles about 5m beyond me and satisfied, sits on his board......

He learned about priority apparently!?!! And he's not the only one.....there is more back paddling going on in noob lineups than anywhere else....and it's intentional....can tell by the slow paddle, the wary gaze.....almost like a dog sneaking up on a hot dog left unattended at a BBQ......


This story ended with said noob unable to keep up with the sweep before even getting a wave and getting sucked back down and out before he paddled out of it near his original position.....was food for thought though...

I surf where there is often a lot of current. Sometimes it makes it hard for me but most times it makes it hard for others and tolerable for me. It's nice to have a break that limits the number of surfers who can or want to go out.

It wouldn't surprise me if some noobs thought that going behind you was actually being polite in that they were 'getting out of your way' (not being in front of you).

But I guess even if they were trying to set up priority, at least they know the rules. Or some of them.

You can always do the trick of moving deeper and deeper - and they follow - until they are totally out of position to catch a wave, then when a wave comes you paddle 5 or 10 m sideways first to get back into position then get the wave. But it's annoying

Was that "clumsy slow wobbly back paddle" actually done paddling in reverse or he paddled around to you back ?

Big H wrote:So I'm out today....I'm working a peak that is in a rip so it is WORK, but that was part of the deal since it was a small day and I wanted to get some paddles in/exercise....plus that rip was standing that part of the wave up nice.....a noob on a rental foamie spots me after getting my first two waves and paddles 100+m over to my position......he stops short of me, sits on his board and gives me a look, then slowly lays down and does a clumsy slow wobbly back paddle and comes around my back to take position....he paddles about 5m beyond me and satisfied, sits on his board......

Sometimes I go to where "pro" surfer sits especially seeing them catching a few waves there. Just want to go to a "proven" good take off area and feel safer to be surrounded with people. But when I get there I always let those pros take off first and then catch my waves.. OK I am one of those noob

waikikikichan wrote:Was that "clumsy slow wobbly back paddle" actually done paddling in reverse or he paddled around to you back ?

Just paddled around my back.....but did it so tentatively he was like a long tailed cat in a roomful of rocking chairs.


Reason I felt compelled is the this is hardly isolated....I'm not looking for tricks to create an advantage (drifting purposely or setting up out of position then racing to the spot when the set comes), I just find it amusing that:
A. The noobs seem acutely aware of this one particular aspect of the lineup......they know exactly where the "head of the line" is. No accidents; the guilty looks on their faces as they "sneak" their way deeper and deeper says it all. I paddled 100m against the sweep to the spot and was followed by a noob woefully outside and out of position.....he keyed on me and went where I did. On reaching the spot I sat up....he slowed down and pretended to look off into the ocean somewhere as he slowly made his way around me three strokes deeper to claim his priority. This was today, and yesterday, and probably tomorrow. Just funny.
B In lineups with more experienced surfers, they will not blithely make their way a shoulder deeper than where you're set up.
C. Just about any other aspect of the written and unwritten rules of the lineup including controlling your board is a foreign subject matter. I got hit by a board two days ago because stupidly I assumed that since the guy was holding the board in water that was just above the knees he would continue to do so and not throw it and do a starfish diving faceplant into the whitewater......board took me out at the shins like a linebacker. Still hurts; GUYS, FOAMIES HURT! :LOL:

frostless wrote:

Big H wrote:So I'm out today....I'm working a peak that is in a rip so it is WORK, but that was part of the deal since it was a small day and I wanted to get some paddles in/exercise....plus that rip was standing that part of the wave up nice.....a noob on a rental foamie spots me after getting my first two waves and paddles 100+m over to my position......he stops short of me, sits on his board and gives me a look, then slowly lays down and does a clumsy slow wobbly back paddle and comes around my back to take position....he paddles about 5m beyond me and satisfied, sits on his board......

Sometimes I go to where "pro" surfer sits especially seeing them catching a few waves there. Just want to go to a "proven" good take off area and feel safer to be surrounded with people. But when I get there I always let those pros take off first and then catch my waves.. OK I am one of those noob

That's different.....everyone does that....the guy who is the ace in the lineup gets a wave and everyone fights to get to the end of his foam trail to start from his exact same spot........what I bet you don't do is find someone better than you, follow them, then paddle around them and sit a board's length deeper then paddle battle that guy for the next wave.

If I'm surfing alone and picking a shitier peak on open beach break to do so, then someone better not paddle out on me. And if the do, they probably shouldn't expect a wave for awhile. I'm not there to give people comfort who are afraid of surfing alone.

This is more in regard to open beach break where there are numerous peaks and no crowds. I really don't understand the mindset of a group of guys paddling right out on top of someone surfing solo and then paddling for every wave that comes through.

Pretty much over etiquette and crowds in Florida. People back paddle you all day and then when you fight to be closer to the peak and deeper they drop in on you anyway.

If someone is really a newb then there is a point at which they are too deep in the lineup and can't make it. If that spot is deeper than you then?????

The point is not that they actually can get the wave, or that you will actually cede your position (I would stuff them before letting them come out, step on me and steal the wave I'd been waiting on).....the point I am trying to make is that as green as they are, and of all the things that they need to learn, the common thing that these greenwoods have in common as being one of the very first things that they learn is where the front of the line is......oddly, they have very little shame in going straight to that point rather than ease their way into lineups.....doesn't matter that where they set up is on the edge of an un makeable section or that they do anything else other than bob in their spot.....what gets under my skin is that they have learned this nugget before so many more important things and that they will "cut the line" like it was their right.

I welcome any newbie to paddle around me. Go ahead and make my day LOL

I use a technique called Reef Meat, especially on reefs .

I gradually go as deep inside as I can, benefit here ( it expands my take off skills) a little more each wave, knowing full well how the break works. Noobs are herded further and further inside until they get destroyed in a deep take off or whomped by a big set on their head.

Problem solved, we have a resident team of reef meaters at home break.

oldmansurfer wrote:I surf where there is often a lot of current. Sometimes it makes it hard for me but most times it makes it hard for others and tolerable for me. It's nice to have a break that limits the number of surfers who can or want to go out.

Word to that! Once it gets over 3ft the outer sand bars break at my home break and paddling in becomes impossible to beginners because it's chaos, when they do make it out back they get swept by the current because they don't sit right in between the rips which is great because the main outer sandbar peak only has 3-4 surfers while the other closer to shore ones have 30 kids on shortboards and foamies getting into fights and dropping in on each other for chest high waves